


Dear Monsters

by Closed_Eyes



Category: Original Work
Genre: Additional Warning to Be Added, Betaed, Blackmail, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Child Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional Repression, Gore, Grooming, Human Trafficking, M/M, Master/Pet, Non-Consensual Groping, Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Consensual Puppy Play, Non-Consensual Touching, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Body Fluids, Piss, Psychological Horror, Psychological Torture, Puppy Play, Stockholm Syndrome, Suicidal Thoughts, Threats of Violence, Torture Porn, Underage Masturbation, Underage Rape/Non-con, Unhealthy Relationships, Unsanitary, Vomit, shoe worship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:48:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29832084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Closed_Eyes/pseuds/Closed_Eyes
Summary: When Cole was eight years old he learned the bitter reality that monsters didn't sleep under your bed and didn't go away when your turned on the light.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. The Orphanage

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I love my friend who beta'ed for me, this is for you, my beloved!

Cole thought that his orphanage was shittier than most orphanages, he had been to a few and yet this one broke the record.

First of all the "beds" were more like used up cots with maybe a few blankets thrown about if you were lucky; there were a few kids that had to fight for the blankets. The uneven number of them made it so no matter what at least two or three kids would shiver rather than sleep during the night. Their rooms were shared but that wasn't really uncommon, what was uncommon was how the Director of the orphanage seemed intent on using as little space for each bed as possible.

The food was nutritious, or so they said, but a complete torture to eat; Cole remembered one time a kid threw up her food, the nannies made her clean the mess with her own tongue and clean the bathrooms for a week for that one, so despite the dreadful taste and smell, Cole ate.

The staff were another issue, an issue that Cole didn't really like to entertain but he needed to get his point on just how bad it was across. First of all, they were all cheerful and friendly which on it's own wouldn't be a problem, the problem was that they were lying, or at least that's what Cole thought; you see, to Cole, people who dragged sleeping children during the night to be "adopted" illicitly couldn't be good people.  
Cole prided himself on knowing grown up words but he didn’t enjoy it as much when he had to explain to the crying children why their friends weren't coming back. To be fair, he wasn't thrilled either when he found out.

He had been eight years old and too smart for his own good; that was a phrase that the nannies at the orphanage used a lot when referring to him. They said it with tight smiles and a strange look in their eyes but it had the word smart in it and that's all that had mattered to Cole back then.  
That night he couldn't sleep. He felt hot and cold all at once and so decided to take a walk to see if that could fix it. He had never seen another child take a walk during the night but he assumed it was fine so carefully he tossed his blankets to the side, giving them to one of the kids shivering in the darkness.  
He had gingerly tiptoed around sleeping bodies and made his way to the door. Cole had been delighted to find it slightly ajar and so he slipped through and into the corridor.

The corridor's walls were adorned with the other kids' drawings and he pretended to be an art critique, muttering to himself about the feeling of each painting and how raw the drawing of a swing was until he couldn't contain his giggles anymore. Cole congratulated himself for the amazing idea of a night walk as he danced around the empty orphanage; he felt as if he were a famous dancer who people paid billions to go see and he smiled in glee.

The cries melted that smile right off of his face. Cries weren't uncommon in an orphanage, a lot of the kids here had lost their parents in horrific ways and just being an orphan was enough pain to fill a kid's head with nightmares. What made his knees turn into jelly and the hair on the back of his neck stand were the adult voices that came with them.  
Cole hadn't told his legs to slowly take him to where the noises came from and yet they did; his bladder cramped when the noises became louder, bloodier in their desperation and anger respectively but he wouldn't piss himself. He was a big boy who didn't pee in his pants anymore and he wouldn't be going back to that.

He hadn't even realized that his little fists had been balled up onto his pyjamas. The only thing that he was sure of is that he didn't want to be there and still, he kept moving. Even now Cole didn't know what compelled him to move that night; the thought that he had been simply curious was more terrifying than what he saw that night. 

The cries had come from within a lit up room, fairly away from the bedrooms; he hadn't even realized he had wandered that far. Tiptoeing towards the half open door he had peeked inside, only to have his breath knocked out of his lungs.

It had been Paul, one of the few kids he would've considered family; he had been crying, desperately and his wrists and legs had been strapped to a table. Paul's chest was uncovered as was the rest of his body and even from a distance Cole could see the trembles and shivers that ran through him. There was a man towering above him; he had seen him before in visits during the day. Cole had heard the nannies refer to him as "Quite the handsome man" and "A waste of a face" and a bunch of other things that Cole hadn't bothered to understand. As this man towered above Paul, Cole didn't have any adjectives other than "Horrid".

The man held a scalpel and it ran through Paul's chest like his flesh had been butter; so unnervingly easy that for a moment Cole doubted it'd hurt, but soon red filled the clean lines that the blade left behind and Cole swore he could feel the pain of those cuts. It had taken everything in him to not run, vomit, scream or a weird combination of the three. Cole had an awful feeling that if he got discovered it wouldn't be Paul on the table anymore.  
Cole didn't know how long he stood there, shaking like a leaf in the wind but when he saw the man step back from Paul he let out a breath of relief. It was going to be okay, it was done, now he could wait for Paul, and they'd both go back to their beds and pretend this never had happened. He watched in horror as the man grabbed a flame gun, turned it on and carefully hovered it above the cuts; flesh burning away and closing wounds in a grotesque display.  
Cole didn't hear Paul's howls of pain, he couldn't hear anything really; he was distantly aware that his mouth had dislodged and winded to scream along his friend. The hand covering his mouth had been a surprise, enough that his cramped bladder tensed and relaxed, soiling his pyjama pants as he stood stock still.

"Shh, we don't want to interrupt them now, do we?" The director of the orphanage whispered right in his ear, sending an involuntary shiver through his small body, "You really were too smart for your own good, weren't you?" His voice held a smile and Cole trembled.

Cole sobbed and wailed into the warm hand against his lips, it was cruel how warm it was and how comforting he had found; he couldn't help but cling to the person behind him, trying to hide his face into the crook of his neck.  
The Director didn't allow this, of course. With the same hand holding him he forcefully made him watch as Paul was marked. He gagged when his eyes had finally registered that the cauterized cuts hadn't been scribbles and had instead been words.  
In angry flesh the word "Sold" had been written on Paul's chest. Cole felt faint and leaned his quivering body on the man behind him, hating how big the other was and how it felt as if he was being engulfed.

"There, there. You are doing great, sweetheart" The director had cooed at him, rubbing soothing circles on his belly with his free hand.

"If you don't pass out on me I'll give you a reward. You like rewards don't you, dearest?" Cole wanted him to stop talking, to stop touching him and to leave him alone but he couldn't tell him so as more sobs wrecked through him.

With a hearty chuckle —the same chuckle that had given him gifts when Christmas had arrived at the orphanage last year— the Director picked him up, holding him as if here cradling a panda and not a terrified eight year old who had peed his pants.  
Cole held onto the man as if he had been a lifeline and he still hated himself for it.

The man groped his butt in earnest as he carried him and Cole couldn't find it in himself to stop him or to struggle. He felt as though his body was far away and all he could hear and see were Paul's screams and injured chest.  
He had felt himself slowly go back to himself once he was seated on the Director's desk inside his office; the man's hand sneaking inside his shirt and racking his nails down his side, grabbing and pinching.  
He had known that the other had been talking but at the time he had been focusing on squirming and trying to pull away from the burning sensation of strange hands exploring his body. A rough and calloused hand struck his cheek and finally his head cleared enough to listen.

"You have been very naughty, darling, trying to fight me off when I helped you." The Director smiled sweetly despite his words and Cole’s world started to spin around him once again but he fought against it. He had to listen, something bad would happen if he didn't.  
"There you are… I thought I had lost you, space cadet," He had chuckled again, "Now, let me explain what's going to happen, yeah? You aren't going to tell anyone what you saw today. You are going to stay right here with me until I know you understand this. You aren't going to scream or cry; you are going to be a big boy, aren't you?  
Cole had felt as if he had been choking, all of his fear and screams clogged his throat and he nodded, biting his bottom lip in order to not sob as the older had asked him not to do. The Director had smiled brightly at this, caressing Cole's face affectionately.  
"Good boy, such a good boy, a smart boy," The Director had soothed at him, "You would have made a couple very happy at some point, it's a shame… I should turn you in, get paid double, triple even and send you off but I can't do that. You are too precious, too …" the man had trailed off; thumb sliding across Cole's lips, "Perfect for that, I could use some help around here and who better than my own little blessing?"

"You would help me wouldn't you? You know, the people who run this whole thing wouldn't like it if the rest of the products knew about their business. They wouldn't hesitate to…get rid of a bad batch" the Director had said, leaning on Cole, nuzzling his neck and leaving goosebumps where his breath ghosted.

"You wouldn't want all your little friends to die because you were reckless, would you? Of course not, and you'll have to keep quiet and help me for them. If you betray me I won't protect you and it'll be you on that table and I don't want that, so don't make me. Alright, sweetheart?" Cole had gasped when he felt the Director's tongue briefly dipping to taste the sweat gathered there.

Cole welled with tears, "Y— yes, sir," his voice had come out as steady as he could, sobs fighting to get out but it was his fault that the others were in danger, or at least that he had thought at the time.

The rest of the night had been a blur of pain and sickly sweet words being whispered to him, grinding into his brain that he couldn't say anything. The Director had been careful to keep all of his punches and marks where a shirt and shorts would be able to cover them.

Cole remembered that the next day the Director called him into his office during lunch. He vaguely recalled some of the kids had poked fun at him for being in trouble, but what had stood up from that visit had been his new "duties".  
They were fairly easy, any adult would've been able to do them without problem, but he had been an eight year old who felt as if he carried the world on his shoulders.  
The tasks were as follows: He would now be obligated to make shifts during the nights, helping kids who couldn't sleep until the sun rose. He would now be aware of the nights when kids would get picked up and he would make his shifts, paying attention to any kid wandering around and making sure none of them got close to the room where the products were being marked. Finally, he would have to tell the kids who asked why their friend hadn't been there in the morning. The lie that he came up with was that naughty kids that didn't obey the nannies or him during the nights would get adopted during the night as a punishment so they couldn't say goodbye to their friends.  
It was a pretty weak lie but most of the kids were younger than him and not as smart as him, or so the director had told him.

Cole was currently doing the last task of the list, telling Mary, a kid who was barely seven, that her sister had been naughty and so had received her punishment. She started wailing and so he held her to his chest, soothing her as a startling realization dawned on him: he had turned twelve only a few weeks back.

The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth and he schooled his face into something kind and calm instead of the scowl that wanted to appear there.  
There were a few things that left a bitter taste in his mouth these days, the first being told that he was smart. Ever since that first night with Mr. Davis, he loathed anyone who called him smart. Another was the other kids, they were in such blissful ignorance that jealousy burned bright under his skin. He didn't know when he stopped seeing them as children and started seeing them as cattle. He would've felt guilty about it if he didn't think it was deserved.

Sighing, he carefully placed Mary down once she calmed enough to do so, cleaning her snot covered face with a wipe. She looked at him with big eyes and he inwardly cringed; she happily threw her arms around him and hugged him.  
"Thank you, Cole! I feel better now, want to play with me a little before lunch?" She asked, still holding onto him.

He plastered a fake smile on his face and lightly laughed, shaking his head, "I can't. I'm busy but I'm happy I helped you. Now go with your friends, yeah?"  
The girl frowned for a second before nodding, placing a messy kiss on his cheek before running off.

Cole didn't know why Mr. Davis didn't move the sister's pick up to the same night. Mary was supposed to be picked up today and he inwardly groaned at the thought of soothing another batch of slobbering children. Mr. Davis must be pissed off at him for something, he knew that Cole despised having to deal with the kids left behind.

He sighed and made his way to the Director's office, knocking twice before he was let in.  
There, in his chair, Mr. Davis sat, the years had done nothing but make him more into a silver fox. Cole winced at the memory of the nannies calling him such.

Mr. Davis' gaze left the papers that he had been pouring over to look at the young preteen in front of him. A toothy grin spread on his face.  
"Cole! To what do I owe this pleasant surprise? I thought I wouldn't see you until tomorrow." He said cheerfully and patted his lap.

The child walked toward the older man with no hurry or slack to his step, comfortably sitting on the man's lap before speaking.

"I'm here to inquire about why the Johnson sisters were not picked up the same night. Have I upset you, Sir?" Cole asked calmly, using complicated words like the older man had asked him to use when speaking to him.

Mr. Davis seemed to consider this before leaning in to kiss the child on his lap. Cole was used this, but it didn't mean that he wouldn't wash his mouth later, to the point of almost waterboarding himself. He was glad that at least he didn't have to kiss back, the beard was uncomfortable against his skin and he knew he'd get beard burns. Mr. Davis never took in consideration that Cole had to look normal after he left the office.

Once he was sufficiently satisfied he pulled away with a last nibble at his lips before replying, "Don't be silly, puppy, you have not upset me. It's just the way that the big guys wanted to do it, not like it's a problem, is it? Of course not, you are nothing but perfect and will deal with anything they throw at you, my beautiful little angel." Mr. Davis’ hands massaged Cole's buttocks for a bit before pulling away groaning.

"You have no idea what you do to me, darling, I can't wait for when you are older," He smiled and placed a kiss on the child's forehead.  
"Now if that's all would you care to stop being a clingy puppy and let me go back to work? Thank you, now shoo, I'm busy."

Cole retreated from the man's office and calmly made his way to the nearest bathroom. If anyone saw his shaking hands and watering eyes that was his business anyways. Once inside he went to the sinks and stared at himself in the mirror. The eyebags, the unshed tears, his red mouth, God he looked revolting and he felt so.

Letting the water run he gathered some on his hands and splashed his face with it and so began the arduous process of cleaning himself until he felt less dirty, at least on the outside. He doubted he could ever scrub hard enough to clean the stains off of his mind.

Taking a steading breath he gathered himself so he could face the kids and the nannies again. It was going to be a long couple of days, just like the last four years had been.

Yeah, Cole was sure this was the shittiest orphanage he had ever been to.


	2. Jenny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cole keeps his head down and does his job, that's all he is allowed to do; if he enjoys it it's another thing.

He was a busy kid, his duties required for him to be available 24/7. Despite already knowing the schedule and when the pick ups happened he still had to be attentive; if a kid became too curious he had to redirect his questions to safer topics, avoid letting kids who have lost their sibling or friends recently together, avoid kids finding out about the truth. If Cole thought they were too close to the truth he'd either reprimand them along with a few others and let their anger cloud their reason. If that didn't work he went to Mr. Davis.

He avoided going to the man most days, not out of fear or any stupid feeling like that, Cole guessed he reluctantly respected the man After all, one had to have a spine of steel to not break under the pressure. 

There was also the fact that Cole hated this man's guts; Mr. Davis had an uncanny ability to make him feel like the most worthless stain in the world and he despised the feeling, yearned for when he could finally leave his old ass and finally be free from his unwanted touches and kisses.

Zoning back to his current situation he eyed the two kids about a yard away. Cole was at the park that came with the orphanage along with all the kids who had wanted to go outside to run and play. Other kids were allowed to stay at the library but he had already asked a nanny to keep an eye on the few he had suspected of knowing too much.

The kids who currently occupied his mind were Danil and Jenny. He had seen them looking at him with squinting eyes and more than once caught them sneaking around to follow him. His first theory had been that they wanted to annoy him —which they did, mind you— but that didn't seem to hold true as he never saw malice behind their eyes. The second theory had been that they had simply grown attached to him and were too embarrassed to admit it. 

It had happened a few times but mostly with the younger children, and while it was a bother he played the part of a good older brother and let them cling to him as much as they wanted. But Danil and Jenny were different; Cole had tested his theory by catching Jenny off guard and ruffling her hair before affectionately giving her a kiss on the cheek as he passed to the lunch area. He had glanced back briefly and assessed that her reaction hadn't been the one of a flustered sibling and instead the paralized paleness of prey.

Clicking his tongue he had decided to give them a few more days, which is why he was outside instead of at the library as he usually preferred to be. His eyes every so often wandered to the pair, huddled together and speaking in hushed tones. Cole smiled at them if their eyes happened to look at the same time but made no further move towards them. He watched with a curl of satisfaction that when he smiled Danil seemed to tense and quickly look at Jenny, who in turn struggled to calm him down. 

Yeah, they had to go, taking a deep breath he stood up from the bench he had been sitting at and stretched, deciding that he would tell Mr. Davis in the afternoon and take both the kids to be picked up that night. It'd probably cost some money to Mr. Davis but Cole was only doing his job.

As planned, as soon as the afternoon activities began he excused himself and briskly made his way to Mr. Davis’ office, making sure no sneaky footsteps followed him.

Knocking twice, he waited until he was allowed in. Mr. Davis sat upon his chair, speaking into a cellphone as he scribbled down on some papers.

His black hair slicked back in an elegant manner and piercing brown eyes focused on his job.

With amusement Cole noted the few strands of white hair and age marks that Mr. Davis now wore.

He patiently waited by the door, avoided fidgeting and drawing unwanted eyes to his frame. After a few minutes Mr. Davis hung up and sighed, running strong hands through his hair before looking at Cole. Even in the stressed state he was in he found himself smiling at the sight of the young teen.

"Cole, dear, what brings you to my office today? Don't tell me you are not satisfied with the kisses I gave you yesterday? Surely not or else I would think you are growing spoiled, puppy." Cole briefly wondered if the man just really loved the sound of his voice or if he was delusional enough to think that he enjoyed the things the man did to him.

Ridding himself from those thoughts he smiled and dismayed at the fact he had grown used to smiling with no real happiness behind the act.

"I'm perfectly satisfied with the dose of affection given to me yesterday, Sir, although I wouldn't complain if I were given more. Unfortunately it is not that which has brought me here, it seemed we have a pair of know-it-all on the loose. I've kept a close eye on them and seem to suspect nefariousness from me, Sir." 

Mr. Davis smiled brightly, "Nefariousness? That's a new word, have you been reading, baby? You wanted to impress me?"

Redness gathered on Cole's cheeks and it took everything in him to not tell the other to go fuck himself. Instead, he simply gave a curtly nod and looked to his feet, hoping that Mr. Davis hadn't seen the blazing glare he surely had on his face.

It seemed that the older man hadn't as he cooed at him, "Well, color me impressed, my smart little puppy. As for the kids, I suppose that we could do a one for three offer tonight, might lose some money though… who are the kids?"

"Danil and Jenny, Sir, they seemed to have joined at the hip ever since losing their sibling and friend, respectively."

Mr. Davis hummed in consideration, “Danil is going to be a hefty loss in money, puppy. He is almost as pricey as you were, him being from am exotic country and all… he is also well cared for, how are you going to repay your lacking, dear? Now, don't give me those eyes, you know it's your job to keep them from thinking too much and now I'll be losing a very pricey product.”

Cole hated when the man pulled the rug under his feet like this; he talked as if Cole was expected to know that stupid Danil was a gold mine, how was he supposed to know? Danil was average at best: wavy auburn hair and icy blue eyes, round face but that was to be expected given the baby fat. If Cole were to be honest he'd say all the products looked the same to him, all of the dumb children who he had to care and expose his throat to wolves for.

Internally screaming in rage, he dropped to his knees and crawled to where Mr. Davis was seated, rubbing his face against the man's clothed calves.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I'll do better from now on, no more slip ups! You have been so generous to me and I have been nothing more than a self-absorbed puppy, _please_ , Sir!" Cole whined, wanting to maim the man as Mr. Davis grabbed his hair and pushed his head towards the carpeted floor.

"I taught you how to properly apologize, didn't I, Cole? Are you saying my teaching was lacking? Do you want a reminder?" Growled Mr. Davis above him.

Cole cursed himself for wanting to save his pride; the older one had used his actual name, he was pissed.

He gave a small yelp, hoping to appeal to the other as he stuck out his tongue and lapped at Mr. Davis shiny shoes, the taste almost made him gag but he held on; Cole's body gave a shiver at the thought of what would happen if he threw up right now.

"Ah, perhaps you do remember and were just being purposely obtuse, is that it, puppy?" That hand on his hair tightened and Cole licked with more desperation, tears welling up in his eyes as small whimpers came out of him; the humiliation almost choked him to death.

The next time Mr. Davis spoke his voice was softer, "Aw, perhaps you simply needed a reminder then, it is true that you normally don't make mistakes, perhaps asking you to be perfect misfired in this one department but don't worry, my little puppy, I'll remind you all the times you mess up. Now up, boy! On my lap, there you go! Good boy!"

Cole's knees encircled Mr. Davis' waist and he hoped the other would only kiss him instead of the other billion things the man had whispered to him every time he stroked his dick while holding the boy.

"There you are, no need to cry, dear, I'm not upset anymore! You apologized properly and now you get a reward. God, it's so hard not to spoil you rotten sweetheart, you have no idea" Mr. Davis said as he reached for the collar of the boy's shirt.

He wanted to scream himself hoarse, scream until blood seeped from within his mouth and the other understood he didn't want his slimy hands anywhere near his chest or, well, anywhere really. But Cole didn't and instead he held on, held onto his sanity and childish hope that a hero would burst through the door and save him despite knowing it was locked.

Mr. Davis' mouth on his neck nearly drove him insane, he forgot how to breath and felt as though time seeped through his fingers like sand, he could have been there for a million years and he wouldn't have had an idea.

He stiffened at the sucking feeling near his collarbone, was he— 

Mr. Davis was giving him a hickey and Cole crumbled. A broken sob wrecked through him as he trembled, hands pinching each other so he wouldn't push the man away. Cole didn't want to go through the punishment of denying him again but he needed to get away.

He wished he was far away, where Mr. Davis couldn't make him want to die. He wished Mr. Davis hadn't been a pervert and still treated him like a son and he wished he didn't want that.

Cole didn't even realize his eyes had been closed until he was startled by hungry lips on his own, they seemed to devour him; tongue so far in that he nearly gagged. Then all at once it was over, Mr Davis was dusting his lap off and he was on the floor and for a moment he entertained the idea he had managed to push the other away but Mr. Davis didn't look angry, he looked rather satisfied, actually.

"What are you doing? Get up and go back to do your job. Chop chop, we don't have all day." The older said as if he hadn't been trying to swallow him whole a mere seconds ago.

Cole stood up, gave his thanks to his superior and left. He didn't bother going to the bathroom this time, he doubted he could get rid of the mark on him with water so he just wiped his mouth and fixed his clothes.

Danil better stay away from him the rest of the day or else they'll be turning in damaged goods.

By the time night came Cole could barely hold still in his excitement. Mr. Davis had called him into his office again that day, told him he was the one who'd have to escort Danil and Jenny to their destination. He almost couldn't fight his smile but in the end he had managed to keep his face bland and had nodded; now though? He was smiling, wanting to smile for the first time in years.

It was a malicious smile by all means but that didn't matter, Danil was going to pay for the mark on his neck and he would enjoy every exquisite moment of this shift knowing he had damned the kid.

Almost skipping he made his way where Jenny laid sleeping, tenderly shaking her awake he whispered, "Jenny, c'mon, I want to show you a surprise, Danil is waiting for you, hey."

The eleven year old woke, blearily blinking at him before she seemed to catch up; she surprisingly didn't scream or pale when she saw it was him, instead she smiled knowingly. Cole thought bitterly that she shouldn't be taking her impending doom so well, he hopes Danil cried and begged.

"Coming, coming… so it's done?" She asked, stretching and putting on her glasses.

Cole stared at her, internally revolted at seeing her so relaxed about this. He had at least cried when he knew the truth but outside he smiled softly, affectionately looking at her and continued with his charade. He still needed to get her away from the other kids after all.

"Yeah, it's done. Now c'mon, he's waiting for us."

She gave a small chuckle and hauled herself up, taking the hand that the older kid offered her. Cole led them out of the room to the corridors; Jenny filled the silence with mindless chatter he didn't want to entertain. No, his mind was in one place specifically, the room farthest to the right from the main stairs. That's where the ceremony would happen that day.

As they kept approaching Cole let himself slip, his grin finally stretching across his face in a sharp manner; Jenny noticed.

"Um, Cole? I don't think I should be up so late, the nannies are going to get worried and— Cole your hand is hurting me! Let me go, now!" She struggled against him but she was a little kid and he was powerful for once and wouldn't let her go. A maniacal little laugh made it past his lips and Jenny started bawling.

"Wait! Cole, I'm sorry! I'm not getting involved again, please! I'm sorry, Cole!" She pleaded so desperately and he swallowed at the sudden whoop his stomach did, unlike any other times it had happened this time it felt nice.

He could think about that later, "I want you to stop yapping, Jenny, if you don't I'm making you swallow your braids," he hissed at her and effectively shut her up.

Cole's eyes lit up once he saw the lit up room, walking faster and dragging a pale Jenny behind him; excited he opened the door, smiling widely at seeing Keith there, the same man that had tortured Paul.

He seemed to have been startled as he spun around holding his scalpel as if to attack, once his eyes settled on the two small children he sighed, relaxing and pressing two fingers to his temple. 

"Fuckin hell, Cole! Could've murdered you by accident, be more careful, dumbass." Keith's voice was young and held almost no heaviness to it that could give away his job. His eyes were a nice green and he kept his brown hair tied into a bun; he looked the epitome of college youth and people assumed he couldn't harm a fly or at least that's what Keith had told him when Cole had asked him how the police hadn't arrested him yet.

Despite their first encounter Cole had grown to like Keith. He was nice and didn't treat him like a dog or a child, Keith treated him like an equal, a friend even, and had apologized when Cole confessed to him that he had seen what Keith had done to Paul. So yeah, he liked Keith.

"Sorry, I'm excited." He answered truthfully as he handed Jenny to him; Keith raised an eyebrow at him as he strapped the weakly struggling child.

"Excited? I thought you didn't like what I did? Did you have a change of heart, buddy?" Keith's hands moved elegantly as he cut through Jenny's clothes, the girl quietly sobbing and murmuring something under her breath.

Cole blanched a little and shifted from foot to foot, "I don't but these two deserved it, they— um, Mr. Davis got mad at me…" he said, wringing his fingers together before hesitantly pulling at his shirt, revealing the purple and green mark there.

Keith winced in sympathy and Cole felt a lot better, "Yikes, Sorry about that, she caused that? 'Cuz I can make the scalpel go a bit deeper today if you want?" he offered and smiled when the kid giggled.

"No, it's the other, there's three, right? The official one goes after these two," Cole said and then hesitated, "Would it be too much trouble to wait while I get the other for you to start? I want him to see what is going to happen to him."

Keith snorted at the slightly macabre look the kid had on his face and nodded, "Yeah, go ahead, I can have some liberties given that these are extra unofficial."

Without much other to say Cole turned around and left saying, "Thank you, Keith!"

The young man snorted and muttered, "good kid," to himself before turning to the shivering girl on the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith, my beloved.


	3. Danil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a lot of emotions Cole is familiar with, guild is not one of them.

Cole walked hurriedly down the corridors, checking as he went for wandering kids; he really didn't have to explain to Mr. Devis why four children had been sold instead of the three they had agreed on.

As he reached the room where Danil slept in he stopped by the door, running his hand through his hair in an effort to look less winded. Once he caught his breath he quietly opened the door and crept in, glancing around for the Russian kid.

Danil was one of the other twelve year olds other than himself. He used to have a love for art before his sibling got taken away; when that happened Danil had sobbed into his arms and then punched him for his troubles but Cole didn't hold a grudge towards Danil for that. He was grateful, in fact, that incident had landed him in the nursery for about a day which meant he was a whole day away from all the other children and could rest a bit.

The grudge he now held against the kid was simply because he was pricey and smart enough to know something had been up with the orphanage. If Danil had been dumb or less exotic then Mr. Davis wouldn't have marked his neck, so Cole would get rid of Danil.

He smiled when he spotted Danil's wavy auburn hair, silently approaching the sleeping figure before schooling his face into the gentle one he used around the kids.

"Danil, wake up; I have a surprise for you." Cole softly said in a sing-song tone before caressing the side of Danil's face.

Soon enough icy blue eyes stared into Cole's brown ones, Danil blinked a few times before realizing who had been talking to him.

"Cole? What… what are you doing here?" Danil sat up, glancing about him to check that no one else was awake, his blue eyes focused on the kid in front of him again, taking in the features on his face before looking away.

Cole thought that Danil's thick accent was irritating and that if he whispered it was almost unintelligible, but he didn't say that. Instead he leaned closer to him and whispered, "I have a surprise for you, follow me and I'll show you."

Danil's eyes widened and looked at Cole with a dumb expression for about three seconds before briskly nodding. He allowed himself to be pulled by Cole and didn't say anything when the other held his hand to guide him through the darkness.

Cole carefully made it back to the door, making sure that none of the other kids were awake, and then glanced outside the room to check that none had wandered to where they were. Once satisfied he pulled Danil out the room and closed the door as they left.

"Um, so where are we going?" Came Danil's hushed voice as he followed the other.

"It's a surprise isn't it? You'll like it, I promise." Cole lied easily, he wasn't sure how much the Russian knew or how much he trusted Cole but he still had to keep the act in case any other kid ran into them.

After a few minutes of silent walking, Cole spotted the lit up room once again, grinning sharply as he picked up the pace before a strong tug stopped him in his track. Quickly he spun around and saw Danil firmly holding his arm. The light was awful and he couldn't really make out if the other was frowning or pouting, but it was clear that the gig was up.

"Danil—" Cole started but was cut off by the other.

"I like you, Cole, I wanted to say that and that I was sorry for punching you the other day " Danil's sentence had started as an exclamation but his voice had quietened down until it was merely a whisper but Cole still heard it clear; Red faced and nervously looking at the ground, his hands still around Cole's arm.

Cole's head didn't spin and his heart didn't beat faster in embarrassment or anger, instead he felt himself go cold while he replayed the events that had led him to believe Jenny and Danil had discovered the truth. Danil and Jenny following him around, Danil looking away when he had smiled at him and when he had tested Jenny; she hadn't been pale in fear of him— had she even been pale? Had he imagined it in his paranoia?— but had instead worried that her friend's crush had just flirted with her.

With a start he realized that he didn't care, it was too late for that. He couldn't ask Keith to unstrap Jenny and let her go on the condition that she never said a thing about it because, well, Mr. Davis expected to be missing three children the next morning and that was it, nothing more, nothing less. If he didn't do his job, he died. He entertained the thought of telling Danil and Jenny about how if they said anything they would be killing all of the other kids besides themselves.

The thought lasted a daring two seconds before he drew the natural conclusion that if Mr. Davis had more assistants he wouldn't be needed and if he wasn't needed then he would become the next kid they sold. He couldn't let that happen.

Cole didn't know how long he stood there, frozen before he realized the clock was ticking, racing to see how long it'd take for him to lose control of the situation completely. Danil had been making apologies and excuses now, saying that they could still be friends and that he didn't need to tell him anything now.

Carefully and feeling dead inside, Cole pressed his lips to Danil's, effectively shutting him up; it was a chaste kiss but if need be he would make out with the boy currently gripping his shirt. Slowly he started moving back, towards the door.

If Danil had been serious about his crush he wouldn't notice Cole leading him towards his doom. If he was lucky Danil had shit animal instinct.

Danil hadn't expected the kiss but his heart fluttered and he leaned into it, clumsily trying to match Cole's rhythm, he would ask him later how he kissed so nicely.

Cole pulled away when his back finally hit the door and wrenched it open, pushing Danil inside and then slamming it closed. His body shook with adrenaline as he stared at Keith who smiled at him and untied the gag around Jenny's mouth.

She screamed for help immediately, her pleads filling his head and Cole saw the moment Danil realized what had happened.

He launched first and managed to knock Danil down again, grunting as he tried to wiggle free, "Jenny! Cole, what are you doing!?" The Russian screamed at him and Cole pressed his knees on Danil's back.

"Shut it! Fucking shut up and stop moving!" Cole screamed back, reaching to grab Danil's wrists but the other wasn't going to lay limp and let whatever was happening happen.

He elbowed Cole on the nose, hard; managed to push him off his back, scrambled to his feet and went to grab for Jenny before he was yanked up by the wrist reaching for her.

The grip was like iron and he screamed when he heard a small crunching noise. Danil blinked the tears out of his eyes to stare in frozen terror at the man hoisting him up. He had seen him a few times near Cole but hadn't thought much about him. Now, looking at the angry green eyes staring him down, he whimpered.

"Alright, I don't really like fighters, so if you stay nice and still I won't ‘accidentally’ cut off your ear and maybe I  _ won't  _ kill your friend? How does that sound, you lil' shit?" Keith asked, hoisting the kid a bit higher, he had half the mind to move him away from the table where now the girl was trying to plead to him.

Cole groaned, holding his nose and trying to not bleed all over his clothes, it was surely broken, there was no way it wasn't. He hadn't realized that Danil was stronger than him when he made this whole plan, guess he didn't realize a lot of things regarding the auburn.

Danil's throat was closed shut in his panic and as an answer he kicked the man as hard as he could trying to aim for the crotch only to find he only reached to his lower abdomen.

"How you fucking wish." Keith sneered and turned to see his friend still writhing on the floor, "Cole! Prepare another table, hurry so I can check your injuries."

Cole's first try on standing up ended up with him retching a few times before he was on steady feet. It was ridiculous the amount of pain he felt and the blood running down his face didn't ease his nausea. Still, Keith needed him and so he moved; the older man had taught him how to prepare a table for such an operation and said that it was just in case Cole decided to go down his career path after he was out of the orphanage.

Meanwhile Keith wrestled with the rabid Russian kid, trying to scratch and kick him as much as his tiny body could. He didn't know which was more pathetic: the Russian kid, the girl still pleading for mercy, or himself for considering Cole enough of a friend to do this for him.

Danil couldn't believe what was happening and yet the pain in his wrist told him it was real. He had kissed his crush and then it turned out said crush was some sort of serial killer with an entire adult as an assistant and now Jenny was going to get killed. He screamed in rage when he heard Cole say that the table was ready. He wanted to hurt him enough until his own heart stopped hurting and until Jenny was free and they both were okay but the man currently laying him down didn't let go.

Cole watched detachedly as Keith wrestled Danil down, managing to strap him with a sigh. The man turned to him and Cole was relieved to see no anger in his gaze. He didn't know if he was crying because of said relief or because his nose still fucking hurt.

With another sigh, Keith approached him, taking a clean rag from his clothes and crouched down in front of him, "This is going to hurt like a bitch kid, sorry." Then he grabbed his nose and did  _ something  _ that made him see white and howl. Belatedly he realized that the rag had been to muffle him and he spat it out onto Keith's hand.

"Use the rag to keep the blood from staining your clothes and go do your rounds, I'll see you after we are both done, okay?" Keith said softly, waiting for the kid's nod before letting him go. Now he could do his job, he'd go check on Cole later.

Cole did as Keith told him to, he did his shift, a few kids asked to go to the bathroom; if they asked about his nose he told them he tripped and they dropped it. Cole thought it was too easy to get away with dooming two innocent kids.

He knew they were innocent, he knew he was supposed to feel something about it, about Danil declaring him and then him immediately betraying Danil, but if Cole was being honest? He didn't; the confession had felt as if his lunch had confessed to him and had been angry when he ate it.

Cole hoped Keith hadn't actually killed Jenny, he didn't want to explain- well, he didn't want to explain  _ anything  _ to Mr Davis. Not how he had screwed up about Danil and Jenny, not how he had broken his nose while trying to keep things under control and least of all why Keith had helped him. He really didn't want anything bad to happen to Keith for his fault.

It was a surprise when sunshine came and he was allowed to go to sleep. He didn't, of course and instead ran to the entrance of the orphanage where Keith waited for him.

The man smiled at him and beckoned him to get closer so he could check his nose, "Cole, I gotta say, you're pretty lucky. It doesn't look like it's gonna look any different when it heals. I'll talk to Mr. Davis and tell him you tripped during your watch, he ain't gonna be happy but better than telling him what actually happened, yeah?"

Keith held the boy's face and smiled when Cole gave a nod, "Great, then… wanna talk about what happened?" He asked, letting go of the as he sat down on the leading stairs of the orphanage, Cole did the same but didn't say anything.

Cole watched Keith closely, wondering what the other was thinking; he got his answers pretty quickly considering he couldn't read minds.

"You know, I was, er, I used to be one of the kids of the orphanage? Yeah… not the best days of my life, wasn't exactly a favorite to anyone but I was smart, smart enough to convince Mr. Davis I was worth keeping around-" at the sceptical look the kid was giving him Keith chuckled “-I didn't have to deal with half the shit you do, though." Keith eyed the kid for a bit, biting back his smile as he could practically see Cole's cogs turning.

Cole felt strange, warm but nice and he didn't even realize he was talking until he was doing it, "I'm scared of what I'm turning into, Keith- I don't know, I don't, uh, I don't think I see the other kids as human anymore and it's scary because-because if they aren't human, what am I?" Cole hated how broken his voice sounded even to his own ears, he wasn't a crybaby that broke down over a stupid mark on his neck; it meant nothing, it would probably go away in a few days. Still, he couldn't help feel like a marked cow ready to be sold and butchered. Keith's words cut through the mess in his head.

"Honestly? A survivor, survivors shouldn't feel guilty so don't, yeah? Stop thinking is your fault, it's their fault." Keith motioned behind them towards the orphanage as he continued, "They mess up your head and you end up doing bad things. You have felt it, right? When you see the other kids you just want to— ugh, make them suffer until you stop hurting, yeah?"

Cole stared at Keith before frowning, "I-I don't know if I have…"

"I guess you are a bit young for that then but lemme tell you, it's okay. It's okay for you to feel that way, alright? Keep that in your head, It'll help you." Keith finished, ruffling the kid's hair before pulling the other into a half hug.

"O-okay, I'll keep it in mind. Thank you, Keith." Cole hesitated before returning the hug. It was strange how this man had been the same to have marked his best friend's doom and yet now he felt like he was the closest thing to a friend he had; he was grateful nonetheless, Keith was smart like him and helped him without expecting Cole to kiss him.

Keith placed a quick kiss on his forehead before moving away, standing up he stretched and waved goodbye to Cole. As he left the orphanage he sent a text to Mr. Davis explaining the situation with the trip and the bloody nose.

As Cole moved to the rooms where the rest of the kids still slept he thought about what Keith had said; something about the fact that man still worked so near Mr. Davis didn't sit right with him. If it were him he would've left and never came back the moment he was able to, then why was he still here? Keith spoke about his experience in the orphanage as if it had been hell and yet…

Cole shook his head, it wouldn't do him any good thinking himself into circles, Keith was a weird person, he was his friend but that didn't stop him from being weird. Leaving it at that, he creeped into the room and into one of the free beds.

The following week was harsh, Mr. Davis didn't like the fact that he was injured and had deemed a new game for them while he recovered; the child wasn't sure if the Director thought of his game as a punishment but it sure felt like it to Cole. It was simple, when Mr. Davis kissed, groped him and did all the things that made Cole's skin crawl, he would have to act as if he wanted it. If Cole was being kissed he'd have to kiss back, if he was being groped he'd have to grope or grind against the older man and so on.

Cole refused once and that night the director dragged him to Keith's operation room, in the end Cole ended up crawling on top of his own piss crying, begging and promising he would never refuse ever again. Mr. Davis made him grind his face against his clothed crotch before letting the child go clean up. Cole didn't talk or look at Keith for the rest of that week.

Even after healing the game continued, Cole was only grateful that Mr. Davis never made him take off his clothes or directly touch the older man. He hated how he had started to look forward to those nice touches his superior had with him.

But time went on and he got used to the game as he did with everything in his life, weeks turned into months and months into a year. He had turned thirteen when Mr. Davis added a new duty to his job; he would have to greet and welcome the new children that came into the orphanage, tour them and let them create a bond with him so they would trust him more. It was smart, effective and Cole hated it even more than dealing with sobbing children but he did it anyways, he always did the things he was told and never refused.

And so another year had flown by and Cole thought he was doing alright. If things got too much he would talk with Keith while the man visited during the day; he'd tell him if he felt disgusting and the other would assure him he wasn't and that he was brave. Another time he confessed to him that he had almost decided to kill Mr. Davis by poisoning and Keith told him that he shouldn't say that outloud and that poison was too easy to track. Instead, he had told him, you should kill normally and then burn the body and the evidence and then smiled when Cole laughed at the joke.

Things were fine and Cole only had to wait four more years before he could leave all of this behind. Then, Mr. Davis called him into his office, with black colored papers in hand and a sickly sweet smile on his face.

Cole had been in the middle of his breakfast when a nanny informed him that Mr. Davis called for him. Cole felt his stomach twist into knots inside him as he made his way to the Director's office. He didn't know why he felt so nervous, he had been doing this for a long time now and it had always been the same: get there and greet, wait for Mr. Davis to ask him a million things he didn't really want answered and then get told to either get on his knees and let the man pet him or get told to sit on the man's lap while he kissed Cole as if his life depended on it.

Sometimes the kissing came with groping, sometimes the petting came with punches and slaps, it varied but it was the same at its core.

Yet his hands were clammy when he was allowed inside the office; the papers looked ominous on Mr. Davis' hands and his smile had too many teeth. Cole was too far away to make out what they said but the hair on the back of his neck stood straight and his stomach was uneasy.

Nevertheless, he had a role to play and he wouldn't stop playing it now; hands still and at his sides, head straight but eyes lowered he waited for the same old dance to start.

Mr. Davis started with, "I'm getting transferred-" Cole would have wept if the man hadn't sucker-punched him next, "-and I've decided to buy you and bring you with me! Aren't those wonderful news?"

And there was the question he didn't want answered and for once Cole didn't want to answer it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this chapter consider commenting! Even if it's just "AAAAAA"


	4. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes betrayal can taste sweet if it's done by someone you care about.

Cole returned to the lunch area and finished eating his breakfast, then he went to the library and took books to read. The words ran through his head and he committed some to memory before going outside. There, a few kids dragged him into playing hide and seek and he played, he sought and hunted down the giggling children; his cheeks hurt from smiling.

It wasn't until sundown that he let that wretched and fake mockery of a smile fall off his face; Cole ran the events in Mr. Davis' office again through his head.

He was getting bought, his superior had assured him it'd only be a quick visit to Keith's table and then he would take him to his house. Mr. Davis had talked about it so happily and while he had smiled like a fool Cole felt the world crumble around him.

In the end it hadn't mattered, all of his sacrifices and pains, all of the people he sold to save himself. Nothing had mattered, he was a piece of meat, a smart one, yes, but a morsel nonetheless.

That night he didn't prepare to go to sleep, instead he sat among his brethren, the ones he had cared for, had sacrificed himself for and ultimately had sold thinking himself so smart and smug because it wouldn't happen to him.

When Mr. Davis took him to Keith that night he stared directly into his green eyes and saw nothing in them, no sympathy or protectiveness; they were as empty as he himself felt and he simply nodded at the young man once the reality of it all had settled in.

His restraints were tight and he considered struggling, going down with a fight and all but it was too late for that wasn't it? He had already been damned. Cole's eyes stared as Keith prepared his tools, his hands didn't shake as he maneuvered the scalpel and Cole was sickly glad that it was Keith marking him and not Mr. Davis. It was going to be Keith's hands touching his naked skin, reaching inside his chest, and he wondered briefly if the other would enjoy touching him.

He didn't get much time to wonder as Keith approached him, face wonderfully blank and he sobbed quietly, for he didn't want to attract the attention of Mr. Davis. The man seemed to be busy staring at his own phone and he couldn't have been more grateful.

The metal blade of the scalpel laid lightly on his chest for a second or two before pressing in, penetrating his skin as if it had been pudding instead of human flesh. Cole felt himself burst into white hot pain.

His body convulsed on top of the table with each stroke of Keith's experienced hands, his mouth open in silent shock before a bloody scream tore through his throat. Cole heaved and writhed, wiggling to try and get away from the excruciating pain. He cried harder when he felt liquid heat run down his thighs.

"I'm sorry! I—" Another cut and his head was thrown back into another series of howls.

He felt Mr. Davis hand stroke his leg and he felt himself go sick, Cole couldn't deal with that, not right now. The blood rushing to his head made him dizzy and he only half heard Keith telling Mr. Davis, that "If he didn't want Cole to choke on his own vomit then he should stop touching him."

The hand retracted and Cole whimpered, time lost meaning but that was fine. Keith was touching him, no one else, it was the young man's warmth seeping through latex covered hands that rested on his collarbone to keep him down.

The teen went lax when Keith stopped cutting into his chest, he could imagine what it said but in reality he only felt like his chest was one exposed nerve of pain. He waited for Keith to undo the straps, growing more and more antsy when it didn't happen.

"Ke—" Whatever he was going to say died in his throat when Keith turned around with the flame gun. It hadn't mattered all the years that passed; the terror he felt that night where it had been Paul strapped to the table and not him when Keith had grabbed the wretched thing was the same that he felt now. The noise that came from him was torn between being a sob and a scream.

The young man paused for half a second before turning the thing on; once again his free hand pressed against Cole's collarbone, this time harder in case the kid couldn't keep his wits enough to not struggle. He hesitated before speaking, it wasn't like he wasn't allowed to speak while he worked but the presence of the older man in the room had him on edge. Even telling him off for touching the kid had taken an incredible amount of will.

Still, he better calm the kid enough to be able to do his job.

"Kid, listen, alright? You don't want to struggle when I'm holding this thing. We want a clean mark, if you move and make me burn outside the cut you won't like it, so calm the fuck down, it doesn't even hurt that much, c'mon." 

Cole's big and scared brown eyes stared at him and he internally winced, but he had a job to do and better make it quick so the both of them could forget about this whole thing.

Cole was going to die. He wasn't sure if it was going to be because of the pain from the mark or because of the pain Keith's words had caused, but he  _ was _ sure he would die.

He shook his head frantically, mouth uselessly trying to form words as scared little noises escaped him. Then the fire touched his raw skin and his world bursted into white.

Cole didn't know if he felt pain or what but it was too much. He couldn't feel his hands or feet, and trying to keep himself from panicking he wondered if he had truly died but then the smell of burnt flesh shoved him back into his body.

In place, Cole shivered, he felt tingly all over and it was terrifying how he almost wanted to buck into the flame to feel something else, he didn't even realize he was babbling.

"I'm sorry— ah, Sorry! I'll be good, so good  _ please _ . Sto— Ngh!" He felt drool spill from his mouth as he begged and Mr. Davis chuckled.

"Look at him! He's gone dumb from pain. How cute… if it weren't for my morals and for Keith here I would make you dumb from something else, puppy." He said and couldn't help running his hand through the damp brown hair of his beloved puppy.

Keith's eyes glanced briefly at Cole's face and his stomach tightened. Quickly he finished the last part of the mark and turned off the flame gun, almost throwing it on the tray he had his tools on.

"There you go, darling! You did so well, good boy!" Mr. Davis cheered, affectionately caressing Cole's cheek and the boy leaned into the touch making a small noise at the back of his throat.

Keith cleared his throat and shooed the man away as he undid the straps holding the boy, grimacing when the smell of piss hit his nose; he'd have to clean it up later.

Cole was floating, he distantly knew he could move now but couldn't bring himself to do so. He felt strong arms picking him up and at that point he didn't care if it was Keith or Mr. Davis, he just nuzzled the chest he was pressed against in hopes to make the tingling sensation go away.

He could barely feel the wet rag running over his injuries, Cole felt as if he had spent the whole day playing with the younger children while they also cried and clinged to him. He was exhausted and didn't react when clothes were put on his frame, neither when hands fixed his hair.

He only came back to himself when he already was seated in a car, he didn't know if it was a nice car or not but he was in the passenger seat, the window to his right was rolled halfway down and the night breeze felt nice. The car wasn't running and he could hear Mr. Davis and Keith talking somewhere outside.

"Alright, since this isn't the first product you have bought I'll just run this by you quickly, yeah? Keep the mark disinfected and clean, no fucking the product until the mark is a healthy pink—" Keith's voice was interrupted by Mr. Davis'.

"You know damn well I don't fuck my products so young, Keith, so watch your tongue." The man hissed and Cole flinched from where he was in the car.

"Of course, sir. I'm just delivering the standard message that your superiors gave me, if you have an issue with this you can bring it up with them." Cole admired the way that Keith's voice only shook slightly.

"God, you've become so cocky, I remember when you were a mere child clinging to me for safety, have you forgotten who helped you land such a good job—" this time Keith was the one who cut in what Mr. Davis was saying.

"Off topic. Anyways, make sure the product eats the diet I've given you, don't starve him or else he won't have enough energy to properly heal; no physical labor until I've given the green light, me or another doctor from the society will go check in a week or so starting from today. Refusal to let me or any other doctor see the product will result in immediate recovery of the product and a punishment dealt to you by my superiors, is that clear?"

With a sigh Mr. Davis replied, "Yes, it's clear. Could you both enjoy this less and hurry it up? My wife is waiting for me."

"I am not enjoying myself, Sir, I'm merely doing my job," But Cole could hear the smile in his voice and his own lips gave a weak smile, "In any case, that was the last thing I needed to do, now you may go. Take the product to whichever place you plan on keeping him, once the checks are done you may do what you please with the product, if the injury seems to be worsening don't doubt to call me or another doctor. Goodnight, Mr. Davis." Cole heard footsteps walking away and he closed his eyes again.

He heard Mr. Davis enter the car, mumbling this and that, he only really caught Keith's name so he was most likely cussing the other man out. His rage seemed to falter when he landed his eyes on Cole though. A heavy hand was placed on top of his knee and slowly started to go up until his thigh, it was kept there as the car began to move.

Cole fought to remain conscious, he didn't want to let his guard down around the older man but the day weighed heavy on his shoulders and he soon found himself succumbing to sleep.

Cole woke up to light kisses being peppered on his neck, immediately he tensed up before flailing back, his back hit something solid.

"Aw, did you get scared, dearest? Don't worry, it's just me." Mr. Davis' voice cut through the darkness and Cole's heartbeat accelerated. It took a few more moments for his eyes to adjust to the dark and then another few for him to remember what had happened. A lone sob broke through and he pressed his hands to his mouth.

"Now now, puppy, what was that noise?" Mr. Davis hand hovered above Cole's chest. The older man was leaning from the driver's seat, the car had stopped and Cole was cornered, he wished he was brave enough to wrench the door behind him open and run away. Instead he forced himself to lean toward Mr. Davis.

He did his best puppy eyes and closed the gaps between their faces, it was a chaste kiss until the older man's hand pulled at his hair forcing him to open his mouth. Soon he felt as if he was being devoured, it was as if Mr. Davis wanted to leave nothing for Cole to exist. He wanted to cry, he wanted everything to go away but nothing had ever stopped just because he had wanted to, he couldn't even verbally refuse.

When Mr. Davis pulled away Cole gasped, chest heaving and causing a sharp pain to run through him. He whimpered and the man clicked his tongue.

"That's annoying… I admit, I did enjoy seeing you writhing on top of that table, I wish it had been me instead of Keith doing that to you but I could've killed you, puppy," The man said, a cheerful tone in his voice before petting the kid's hair, "Enough chit chatting, get out of the car, my wife is waiting for us, darling."

Cole indulged a second to be horrified at the prospect of another person like Mr. Davis in his life before pushing the door open. As gracefully as he could he left the car and closed the door behind him, he looked around and his breath caught in his throat.

He wasn't even sure he could describe the structure in front of him as a house just because of the sheer size of it, not as big as the orphanage mind you but maybe the size of the lunch area, the library and three sleeping rooms together. Cole dared to guess it looked to be slightly Gothic in design with the touches of a wood cabin. He had to admit it was beautiful and that sucked given that this was going to be his new hell.

He startled when a hand palmed his shoulder, "A beauty isn't it? I inherited it from my parents, it's been in the family for a few generations now. Let's go inside, shall we, dear?" Mr. Davis said and without waiting for an answer guided him to the giant metal gates. There a weird looking box was pressed against the gates, it looked black and a few buttons on it.

Mr. Davis pressed a red one and spoke, "Marleen, open the door won't you, sweetheart?"

Soon enough the thing buzzed which made Cole jump. From within came another voice, "Right away, Sir!"

Cole envied whoever it was for being able to speak so brightly when talking with Mr. Davis. Another buzz and the gates slowly opened as if it were magic but Cole dismissed the thought, he couldn't afford being so childish.

The yard of the property was huge, the flowers there looked like they had been properly taken care of, there were a few trees which gave the whole place a fairy tale feel to it. Cole hated himself for enjoying the view. Once they reached the door at the front of the house Mr. Davis turned to him, a stern look on his face and Cole's stomach cramped in fear.

"Things are going to change a lot, alright? You'll still be my silly little puppy but I can't address you as such in front of my family. I'll address you as Cole and if you dare to even flinch I'll give you a damn good reason to flinch, got it? There you go, good. Inside you'll address me as Sir, Master if it fancies you, My wife will be either M'am or Madame and my children, well— I'm sure they'll tell you what to call them, they are sweet like that." Mr. Davis smiled and it was so different from the ones Cole had seen the man do that a shiver ran through his body. Still, he nodded briskly, adding a small "Yes Sir" at the look the other gave him.

Mr. Davis opened the door and pushed him inside, Cole blinked and his eyes adjusted to the light, immediately fixing his posture when he saw people were in front of him.

He first noticed the woman, she had beautiful blonde hair, it looked like honey and Cole was almost sure it ought to smell as such; her eyes were even more breathtaking: a sky blue he had only witnessed in the most clear of days. She dressed elegantly, a necklace kissing her chest and neck delicately, it was golden with blue gems that matched her eyes. Cole made sure his jaw hadn't dropped, that would've been rude and he didn't want to anger the beautiful woman in front of him.

Sheepishly he moved his gaze to the other two other people.

They were two kids, one of them seemed to be about his age and the other was about eleven if he were to guess. The older one had sparkling blue eyes and lustrous black hair, he was handsome as far as kids went. Cole noted with some trepidation that the kid shared Mr. Davis' nose and general feeling to him, very regal in his posture and despite Cole being an inch taller managing to look down his nose at him.

The younger one stood next to his brother, this one resembled more the woman than Mr. Davis: his hair was blonde although not as pretty as the woman's, his eyes were a light grey, and he had an easy smile on his face.

"Family, I have brought home the butler I told you I would get us, the poor boy had been in an orphanage until now so excuse him if he isn't very conversational. Cole, why don't you try and introduce yourself?" Mr. Davis' hand on his shoulder tightened a fraction and he nodded.

Cole's hatred for the man seemed to have been rekindled. If he was allowed to not speak, why tell him to introduce himself? Moreover, why say his name if Cole was supposed to introduce himself? Now what was he supposed to say, "Hello, my name is Cole and Mr. Davis has been molesting me ever since I was eight"? That would definitely land him in trouble.

"Good evening. As Mr. Davis has pointed out, my name is Cole, I had been in orphanages ever since I was six, and I could not be more glad to Mr. Davis for finding me and offering this job to me." He offered a smile and internally congratulated himself for not stuttering.

The woman spoke first, her voice as pleasant as her looks suggested, "Such a well spoken young man! My name is Vivianne, honey." her smile was sweet and Cole couldn't help his own smile.

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Madame." Cole replied curtly.

Next was the older of the brothers, he looked Cole up and down before speaking, "The name's Jacob."

Cole didn't get to greet him when Mr. Davis spoke, "Jacob! What was that improper way of talking? Have you been hanging around that stupid little gang again have you? Heaven help you if I find out you've been talking like that in school, boy." Growled the older man and Cole felt himself pale but quickly recovered, he couldn't slip up.

Astonished, he watched as Jacob simply shrugged and rolled his eyes. Cole felt as though the world had been turned upside down while he wasn't looking, why hadn't Mr. Davis beat the kid to a pulp?

His attention was yanked to the younger kid when he giggled and introduced himself, "Don't pay attention to Jacob. My name is Gabriel, you can call me Gaby, if you'd like."

Cole gave a weak smile at the child, his brain screamed that something was terribly wrong but he couldn't pinpoint it so he simply replied, "A pleasure to meet you, Gabriel."

Clapping his hand together and startling Cole, Mr. Davis called attention to him, "Jacob, Gabriel, you both get ready for bed and go to sleep. Dearest, I'll meet you in our bedroom after I show Cole around, yes?"

Cole had almost looked when the man said "Dearest" but he managed to remember what Mr. Davis had told him outside.

Jacob groaned and left without saying much. Gabriel, on the other hand, ran to his father and hugged him, gave Cole a brief smile before running to give a kiss to his mother and then finally left. Vivianne approached Mr. Davis and Cole with a warm smile and Cole reminded himself that this woman was probably the same as her husband. She laid a gentle hand on his hair before giving a kiss to her husband; stepping back she made her way to the stair and before leaving she said to the kid, "Welcome to the family, Cole. I hope you get comfortable."

Then once again it was just Cole and Mr. Davis, the older man pressed his hand on his shoulder and steered him deeper into the house. An awfully sharp smile on his face and Cole couldn't help but feel as if he was being guided into the wolves’ den.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyo, this bad boy was supposed to EB out yesterday but things came up, sorry about that!  
> Also! New summary and chapter summaries! Woooo


	5. Adapt and Repeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time loses meaning between pain and yearning.

Mr. Davis smiled down at the teen, he couldn't believe he finally had the cutie all for himself. He had been lucky that Keith had seemed reluctant in telling his superiors. The older man bit back his smile; he knew that deep down Keith still loved him. It didn't matter how many times the young man rebelled and pushed against him, he would always seek him out, it was the way things like this happened.

He hoped the same thing would happen with Cole; just thinking about the kid all grown up and on his knees had him harden in his clothes. His fingers curled a little tighter on the small shoulder.

Cole didn't know what a butler did but he assumed that paying attention to the different rooms would be important so he listened closely whenever the older man pointed one out.

So far he knew where the kitchen, the bathrooms and the library were; all of them were on the first floor. Cole didn't understand why Mr. Davis would need such a big place if he didn't have any products to sell.

They were reaching the end of the third hallway when Mr. Davis pointed to a door. It looked to be less opulent than the others and lacked the generic style of the rest of the doors in the house.

"Inside will be your room, decorate as you wish. Aren't you glad you are with me now? I get to spoil you, Cole." The man said with a toothy smile and Cole nodded.

"Thank you, Sir. You are kind." Cole's throat felt sore when he spoke, now that the adrenaline had worn off he could feel the painful throb of his injuries on his chest. He had dimly hoped to taste blood at the back of his throat but all that he had felt was pain. He thought that it was unfair, "Can I turn in for the night or shall we keep exploring the house?"

Mr. Davis smiled at his words; Cole was somewhat relieved to see that at least that hadn't changed.

"Of course, we can continue tomorrow upstairs. I have a gift to give you anyway. Let's go inside your room, yes?" The man smiled and Cole nodded, a small smile forced onto his face.

Cole reached for the door and let it open. The room was normal in size compared to the rest of the house but it was still big for him; he had been used to sleeping cuddled with at least two kids and about a dozen more making noises in the night. He doubted this place would have as much noise.

Mr. Davis gave him a light push and then entered himself. The man closed the door behind them and then guided the kid to the bed, without saying anything he picked Cole up and placed him on top of the sheets.

The man's shadow loomed over him and he gulped, fighting to keep his face relaxed. It never got any easier.

"Cole, take off your shirt, dear." The boy tensed but made quick work of his shirt, hissing whenever heoved his arms too recklessly.

The man smiled once the child only had his pants on, dipping to kiss the kid's shoulders and neck he mourned the fact he wouldn't be able to kiss the mark until after a week.

"You are beautiful, you know that? So small… make me want to keep you like that, you could use less pounds, keep you small and frail." Mr. Davis murmured against his skin before nibbling his shoulder.

Cole held back his whimpers and wished to be so utterly ugly the man would never touch him like this again. He wished he had muscles and fat everywhere, blisters and scars and he didn't have teeth. He wished he looked like all the villains in children's stories, maybe then Mr. Davis would keep his hands to himself.

Suddenly Mr. Davis pulled away and terror grabbed his heart in a vice grip. Had he said that outloud? Did he forget to move against the man? Cole's breath stuttered when the man presented a pair of bracelets.

"Put it on, if you ever dare to not wear it I'll whip your back.", he laughed, "Puppy, don't look so scared, I'm sure you won't forget to wear it and if you do… well, I'm sure I'll enjoy your punishment." the man said and after consideration he added, "You can take it off for showers, I don't want you ruining my present."

Mr. Davis' heavy hands grabbed his and put the bracelets on, Cole's heart squeezed when he realized they weighed heavy on his wrists. They were made of black leather and they had metal accents; Cole wanted to burn them but decided that flailing was a harsh punishment in exchange for some satisfaction.

"Go to sleep now, boy. I don't want you feeling tired for tomorrow!" The man grabbed the back of his head and kissed him, stealing Cole's breath for a second before pulling away with that wretched smile he had become so used to.

Mr. Davis ruffled his hair and then left, Cole could feel the smugness wafting off of him and he waited until the room was empty except for him for his face to morph into a scowl.

He was pissed beyond belief, pissed at himself for believing he would've been able to leave the orphanage without a mark on his skin, pissed at Keith and Mr. Davis for humiliating him. Cole's face heated when he remembered how he had acted and his hands fisted the blankets beneath him. He had had a theory and it had been confirmed, his pain endurance was next to nonexistent.

Cole consoled himself with the fact that this didn't change that he could still leave when he was eighteen, even if he had to blackmail the shit out of Mr. Davis, he wouldn't stand more than four more years of this. He already had some vague idea of what to if the man refused to let him go, but that was for another day. Now he had to sleep; he was sure Mr. Davis would find a way to torment him the next day and he needed the energy. Getting comfortable, he willed himself into sleep.

Despite his best efforts Cole woke up the next morning feeling as if he hadn't rested at all; the mark on his chest waking up anytime he as much breathed any deeper than normal. He peered through the window and sighed, it was around seven and he cursed his fucked sleep schedule.

He startled when he heard a knock on his door, swallowing he debated what to do. It couldn't have been Mr. Davis, the man never asked permission to do anything but maybe he would now? The mere thought almost sent him into hysterics but he pinched his thighs and forced himself to stay calm.

"Come in" he said in the most level voice he could. That was another thing, if it was Mr. Davis Cole just made an awful mistake by not saying "Sir".

He felt dizzy when the door was pushed open and Jacob stood there, holding what seemed to be folded clothes. Cole thought he looked pissed and internally winced. 

"Ay, Dad told me to give you some clothes because he doesn't want you looking… like  _ that _ around the house." Jacob looked him up and down and grimaced. Cole looked down at himself, his clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them and he nodded, not bothering to feel offended at the disgust coming from the other.

Standing up, he approached the teen who promptly pushed the clothes into his arms. "Thank you… Jacob." He murmured, unsure if he should call him "Young master" or "Sir" like his father preferred.

Jacob scrunched his nose at him and crossed his arms over his chest. Cole fought back the laugh wanting to bubble up at the display; he knew the other was trying to intimidate him but Cole struggled to see him as anything but another dumb kid. While Jacob wasn't a product to sell Cole still saw him as such, he only hoped that would go away soon. He didn't want to piss off Mr. Davis by accidentally referring to his son as a "product".

Jacob's angry voice pulled him from his musings, "I think it's stupid I have to give you clothes, you are our butler! You should be the one serving  _ us _ not the other way around." Cole turned around and went to the bed to start changing, with his back turned he rolled his eyes, a smile playing at his lips. Jacob was stupid but amusing, he kind of wanted to punch his teeth in just to hear what he would sound like when crying.

He undid his pants and started pulling them down when he realized he was being watched, turning around he stared at Jacob, "... Do you want to watch?"

The reaction was immediate, Jacob's cheeks turned red and he glared, "Of course not, you are like… really ugly! I'm just making sure they fit, I don't want to come back here."

"Alright," He said evenly and pulled off his pants completely, too late he realized he didn't actually have underwear, sighing he glanced back at Jacob, who was now looking at one of the walls. Cole doubted the other would take it nicely if he asked for underwear but he needed it so he wouldn't chafe, "Would you be willing to lend me underwear?"

"Huh? You don't— uh," Jacob turned to look at him and immediately went to glare at the ground, "... I don't want your dick touching my pants… fine! I'll go get you some— keep changing while I'm gone!" With that the other turned around and left the room.

Cole quickly changed his shirt and immediately regretted it, he had to stop moving so abruptly. He wondered if he acted really pretty Mr. Davis would give him something for the pain, though that could lead to the old man thinking it'd be okay harassing him. He sighed, there was no way of winning when it came to Mr. Davis and he’d rather feel his sore chest now than feel his sore chest  _ and _ whatever the man had done to him later.

Another knock and Jacob stood by the door, holding a pair of briefs which he promptly threw on Cole's face, "Put those on and hurry, Dad wants you to eat breakfast and continue the tour."

Soon enough Cole was dressed up. He made to move out of the room but the other stopped him, "Do the clothes fit? If they don't Gabriel will give you some, you are fucking skinny and all…"

Cole didn't think he was skinny, Mr. Davis had told him that he could use less pounds after all, he didn't plan on losing weight but he wasn't skinny. He didn't know why but Jacob pointing that out bothered him, still he nodded, "They fit fine, thank you Jacob."

Then he was allowed to leave the room, it took him about five seconds to remember the way to the kitchen and he set off. He was careful not to make noise, it would be terrible to attract the attention of Mr. Davis now.

He cursed himself for even thinking about the man once he stepped into the kitchen. Standing next to a counter with a plate on it was Mr. Davis. Immediately he assumed his posture: back straight, eyes lowered he greeted the man, "Good morning, Sir. Slept well?"

Mr. Davis seemed satisfied with his greeting and a slight smirk formed on his face, "Good morning, Cole. I slept wonderfully, why don't you come here and eat your breakfast, you have a busy day ahead."

He knew he couldn’t refuse and so he did. Eating was difficult when the man refused to look away from him, but he managed.

Once he was done, Mr. Davis set his plate aside and steered him out of the kitchen; so began his day. The man showed him the second and third floor and finally gave him a list of his duties; once again Cole is infuriated with himself by how glad he was that the older man was being nice.

The list was relatively easier than his last: first he would need to help the Madame of the house in whatever she needed help with, then, after lunch, he would go on to help Gabriel with his homework and play if the kid asked so. He didn't have much regarding Jacob but the general order regarding him was "help when asked to help" and that was pretty easy. Cole didn't have to deal with crying children and pretending to be their friend; he kept himself from being glad towards Mr. Davis for buying him, that would lead to dangerous thoughts and he wasn't stupid.

The last item of the list was the one that most bothered him: it was called "Classes with Mr. Davis" and the man had simply given him a knowing look when he had asked what it meant.

The man told him he would start his duties once he was given the green light by a doctor and that for now he could go ahead and "accommodate" himself.

Cole's following days were either spent in the library of the house or following and helping Madame Vivianne with small tasks that didn't require much physical exertion. The woman was kind and she liked to hear him talk, prompting him to speak by asking questions. At first he had simply waited for her to keep talking like her husband used to do but when the silence had stretched uncomfortably he had quickly provided an answer, she had laughed lightly telling him he didn't need to look so panicked. Cole liked Madame Vivianne and didn't understand how such a nice woman would ever get together with Mr. Davis.

He had been with Mr. Davis' family for a week already when he woke up with knots in his stomach; that day he would see Keith again. Cole didn't feel ashamed for missing him. Keith had, after all, been his only friend for years now.

Mr. Davis had bought him clothes after two days at the house; Cole didn't want to know why the man had his measurements but at least the clothes were comfortable. All of them except for the butler uniform he would have to use if he was given the green light.

His mind once again circled back to Keith and his stomach fluttered. Quickly he got out of bed and dressed himself and eagerly he made his way to the kitchen. There Mr. Davis waited for him, a plate of food ready as always.

Once the man saw him he chuckled, "Are you that eager to serve my family, Cole? I've never seen you smile like that. Sit and eat, the doctor should be arriving soon." Cole was unbothered by Mr. Davis for once. His body thrummed with excitement he rarely felt, barely containing himself from flapping his hands he made way to his breakfast.

It consisted of a variety of things, all of them in small portions that he doubted were the portions Keith had told Mr. Davis to give him but that was fine. It was better food than at the orphanage at least.

When the knock at the door came he almost threw it all up out in his excitement. He glanced at Mr. Davis and then went to where the main door was. He never felt more grateful when the man decided to go open it, he didn't even let himself be angry with himself for being thankful.

He was behind Mr. Davis when the door was opened, his heart was in his throat; yearning churned brightly in his stomach and his eyes met hazel eyes. 

Cole felt as if a bucket of freezing water had been spilled on top of him.

It wasn't Keith; the man in front of him looked to be in his forties, with dark brown hair that didn't resemble the light brown that was Keith. His hazel eyes lacked the cool and comforting green that Cole had come to associate with the young man; he wanted to sob like a little kid.

His chest hurt and for the first time throughout the week it wasn't for the mark he now wore. The man was talking to Mr. Davis and he wanted to tear out his throat. Why wasn't Keith here? Did something happen to him? Was it because of Cole? Was he mad or did he think Cole was too pathetic to be worth visiting? His unanswered questions did nothing but make the hurt in his chest worsen.

Cole distantly knew that Mr. Davis was now taking him back to his own room but he was too busy hurting to pay attention to that. Why did it hurt? Why did his heart squeeze in an entirely new and different way? He wanted to scream and rage but instead he let himself be laid on the bed.

The man's hands were cold and that was yet another thing that the man didn't have in common with Keith, tears slid down his cheeks and he didn't have the mind to feel embarrassed about it.

"Does it hurt?" The man's voice was heavy and deep, tired even, like Cole was an inconvenience and that he would rather have been anywhere else.

The answer was easy enough, "Yes". Cole didn't care to clarify if the mark or his heart, for him it was all the same anyway.

The man said some other things to Mr. Davis and after what felt like an eternity he finally left. Cole snapped himself from his misery, he was alone with the man again; he needed to pay attention.

The man's smile told him enough about how the visit had gone. Still, he startled when the man sat down besides him and made him sit up.

"Cole, I want you to touch yourself and I want to see you come." Mr. Davis ordered as if he had told him to do the dishes; Cole's heart hammered in his chest in an agonizing mix of misery and fear.

"Sir…? I thought you didn't like to feast on your products so… young?" Cole disliked the fact that he had to take pauses to not stutter; he hated that the man let him pause even more.

"I am not going to touch you, silly puppy," Mr. Davis' laugh was clear and rang through his head like deafening bells. "Now, stop wasting my time. Do it."

Cole knew in pure theory what he had to do but he had never touched himself, the mere thought of it made him nauseous. Still, he reached down his pants until he held his flaccid penis in his hand; he tried to ignore how he was shaking. 

"Sir… I don't know if, sorry— I don't know if I can arouse myself, Sir." His eyes watered in fear as he watched the man shake his head in dissatisfaction.

"Stroke yourself, mutt. You are fourteen, aren't you? I'm sure you've done this before, so do it." This time Mr. Davis' tone didn't leave room to argue.

Ignoring his squeezing heart, the shaking of his hands and the watchful gaze of the man besides him, Cole slowly and clumsily began to stroke his dick. He hated that he only knew how to do this because Mr. Davis had done the same thing with his own dick while Cole was seated on top of him; he hated the fact that it had started to harden under his fingers.

"Harder and quicker, we don't have all damn morning." Mr. Davis growled and Cole obeyed. His hand pumped himself roughly and his breath hitched, it felt good, so good and yet his heart and brain hurt. Small pants and grunts came from him but he refused to acknowledge them.

"Good boy, there you go… lick your hand, make it more slick, dear." Cole heard the small tremble in the man's voice and knew he was touching himself as well. 

As he brought his hand to his mouth he internally repeated "It could be worse, he could be the one touching you" over and over again, willing himself to believe it; his hand was covered in his own saliva as he went to stroke himself again.

A broken moan squeezed out of his throat at the feeling and he was glad that Keith wasn't there, his hips twitched forward slightly when the thought of the young man in the room appeared in his mind. The realization almost killed his boner entirely but he couldn't afford that now; he could hear Mr. Davis' gross panting besides him.

He could feel ashamed the rest of the day, he had to be done with this first. Closing his eyes he conjured the image of his friend once again. Cole whimpered when the image of Keith kissing him appeared behind his closed eyelids. 

As a little bit of punishment to himself he moaned, "Sir!" Effectively dousing his arousal a little, enough to gain some clarity. Cole wasn't ready to sink so low as to masturbate to the face of his best friend, he couldn't and wouldn't. He hurried when Mr. Davis groaned, surely spilling in his hand.

His back arched when he felt himself nearing the end; Cole kept his moans quiet but he didn't stop the small pants leaving his mouth. With one final pump of his wrist he spilled in his hand, on his thighs and his belly; he felt dirty as he came down from his high. Cole couldn't help feeling cheated. When Mr. Davis had done it, it had looked like something mind blowing but in reality it had been tiring and short at best.

Filthy fingers grabbed his chin and he was turned to his right only to get kissed — maybe kissed was too gentle of a word, mouth-fucked would have been more accurate— by Mr. Davis. Internally grimacing he kissed back, shame burning through his body like a wildfire.

When the man pulled back they both were panting and he had a satisfied look on his face, "Good job, Cole, very good job. I'll let you skip today's class."

Later, Cole would probably cry about this but now he just nodded and said, "Thank you, Sir."

"Go take a shower and put on your uniform, you are starting today after all." The boy kept his head down as he listened to the older man, nodding at his order he stood and made his way to the nearest bathroom. Cole prayed he wouldn't run into anyone on the way there, he didn't think he would survive the humiliation of it.

Once physically clean he put on his uniform; his hands didn't shake and he idly wondered if Mr. Davis had finally killed his will to live but that thought would be entertained later that night when he would surely sob.

This process repeated through the days, which then turned into weeks and then into months. It had been a year ever since he had last seen Keith and if he used his best friend to get through Mr. Davis' games then that was his problem, no one else's.

He convinced himself that the other wouldn't be disgusted; it had been Keith who had told him survivors shouldn't feel guilty, he was only following his advice.

He should've known not to relax into this new routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma give y'all fair warming: from here on out things get so much worse for Cole.  
> Anyway, thoughts on the chapter? the characters? How much do you want to beat the shit out of Mr. Davis?


	6. Stolen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Change comes at a greater price this time and Cole snaps.

Unlike most things in Cole's life, it was gradual. At first the man visited once every month, then it was twice a month, that evolved into once a week and so on until he came by every other day.

The man's name was Robert Keegan; the first day he had introduced himself as an old family friend although Cole secretly doubted that — the man could not have been older than forty and Mr. Davis was nearing his sixties— but didn't dare to refute. Cole was there to serve and it wasn't the first time he had been lied to. The man unnerved him like most adult men did nowadays; he would be helping the Madame fixing clothes and such and then he'd feel eyes on him, drinking his every movement, but living with Mr. Davis had prepared him for that. He was not prepared for the touches.

It was innocuous at first: a brush of a hand that lasted a second too long, the hand on his shoulder or waist to move him out of the way. They were normal, cash touches that he was used to, most of the family did the same after all and yet still he had felt irked even then.

When Robert had grabbed his butt while Cole had been cleaning the furniture he squealed and nearly broke a vase in his effort to get away. The man laughed as he left, the boy shaking and grasping the expensive porcelain as a lifeline.

Cole had no qualms in bringing it up to Mr. Davis —he had bought him after all, Mr. Davis had to have some sort of pride when it came to his possessions— but the older man had just dismissed him, saying this and that about how "he should stop being such a paranoid puppy". This enraged him, but he held onto his anger tightly. He wouldn't slip up just because someone had gotten handsy with him. 

The man had caught him off guard but now he knew what to look out for and he beared with the lewd touches and stares for good two months before he snapped.

Cole was helping with lunch alongside Mr. Davis' other staff —he never bothered learning their name, his whole focus was on the family not making friends— when he heard the car pull up to the driveway. He had grown used to the rumble of that machine and knew it was Mr. Robert. He washed his hands and told the rest of the staff to prepare enough for six meals before he went to greet the man. 

Mr. Davis had been adamant in Cole eating the same food as the rest of the family and no one dared to contradict him except for Jacob, but that had been resolved pretty quickly. Cole would normally take his plate and go to his room to eat but ever since Robert had appeared in the picture things had changed. Whenever the man was around he was expected to eat alongside the family, he didn't know why but he was still getting fed so he couldn't really complain.

Cole shook the thoughts of his head, he needed to be alert for when Robert started the same old dance of touches and glances. He opened the door with a bright smile and greeted, "Good afternoon, Mr. Keegan! Are you staying to eat, perhaps?"

Robert smiled back, almost as brightly as Cole had, "Cole, It would be a pleasure to stay. I'm here to discuss some… business with Troy, if you would be a dear to lead me to him." He said in that rich, deep voice of his. Troy was Mr. Davis' first name, Cole had almost had a panic attack when he discovered the fact; knowing anything personal about Mr. Davis felt taboo and wrong and he hated punishment.

He nodded to the man and moved aside so he would get inside, as Robert passed him he brushed his hands against Cole's face and smiled. Cole smiled back as he fought back the acidic comment lodged into his throat.

Quickly —and not wanting to be alone with Mr. Keegan— he made his way deeper into the house, guiding the other man until they had reached Mr. Davis' office. Cole knocked once and waited for the man to answer.

Behind him Robert leaned against him, hands on his shoulder and he repressed the full body shiver sure to come, "How have you been, Cole? Old man treating you well?"

It was always the same question and he gave the same answer, "Mr. Davis has been more than kind towards me and I'm eternally grateful and loyal to him and his family, Mr. Keegan." He had practiced it enough that it sounded honest even to his own trained ears.

Robert hummed as he always did when he asked that question, Cole still couldn't tell if it was out of satisfaction or disappointment and he wouldn't even care if Mr. Keegan just stopped showing up to the house.

The door opened and Mr. Davis stood there regal as he always was. He gave a brief glance to Cole who lowered his eyes in turn and then looked at Robert Keegan in front of him. They exchanged pleasantries and both men stepped into the office; Cole stood there for three, five seconds before taking off to Jacob.

Jacob was an ass most of the time and liked to pretend he was better than Cole just because he was richer than him, but the other teen despised Keegan almost as much as Cole himself did. It was so that they had made a pact of sorts: Cole would tell Jacob whenever the man visited and in turn, Jacob would keep Cole busy with him so the man didn't have a chance to be alone with the teen. It had worked rather effectively and so far they hadn't yet been found out.

Cole hurried to Jacob's room —the teen spent a lot of his time in there, it was a real bother to the cleaning staff given that they couldn't perform their best if the teen didn't leave— and knocked twice, a quick "Come in!" was heard and he made his way in.

Jacob's room was a mess; it smelled like dirty clothes, poor ventilation and sex. Cole was unfortunately used to most of those smells and so he had never made much of a fuss about it.

The teen was currently laying on his bed, sheets crumpled and covers thrown to the side; he only wore a pair of briefs and Cole tried very hard to not look. Ever since Mr. Davis' "classes" had started, his puberty had hit him like a train and he hated it. He hated that he could pop a boner whenever the older man wanted and not only that but enjoy it when he was forced to touch himself. 

He wished the teen would ventilate his room more so the heat and the smell wouldn't affect him but he doubted that Jacob would do it if he asked and he really didn't want to explain why he'd asked.

Shaking his head he tried to focus, "Robert is here, probably going to stay for lunch and perhaps dinner. Said he had to talk business with Mr. Davis." he said, kneeling by Jacob's bed and looking at the teen's face. His nose was scrunched up as he looked at his phone and then at Cole. He bit his tongue so he wouldn't whimper at the look; he  _ hated  _ Mr. Davis' classes.

"Agh, fuck! Man, I wanted to spend my afternoon playing— let's hope Robert drops dead, yeah? That would be fun, don't you think?" Jacob turned to look at the tan skinned teen besides him, a playful smile on his lips. Jacob didn't dislike Cole —Well, sometimes he did but only when he sucked up to his dad so— despite what his actions showed; it wasn't his fault that the only affection he received came from his mother and it wasn't his fault that people at school made fun of him for it.

Jacob reached a hand out and pinched Cole's cheek, "Have you ever seen your face when you talk about Keegan, man? You think you are perfectly blank, never show any emotion but your eyes— it's like they are burning, you really hate him don't you?"

That was something Jacob had sort of in common with his father, Cole mused as the teen's hands grabbed at his face and pulled lightly. Jacob asked a lot of questions but he also expected a lot of answers if the questions deemed it necessary, "I do… he makes me incredibly uncomfortable."

"Yeah, I know. I'll keep you busy." Jacob smiled and lightly slapped Cole's cheek, laughing at the look the other gave him.

Cole pressed his thighs together and glared at the laughing teen, he shook off Jacob's hands and rested his forehead on the bed; he hoped he could reverse the sexual deviancies that Mr. Davis' beat into him once he was out of there.

"Okay, okay— I'm sorry. Right, let's go outside with Gabriel, I'm sure the little shit is going to be thrilled with us playing with him, c'mon." Jacob swung his legs out of the bed and stood up, quickly throwing on clothes and putting on sandals. Cole envied him greatly, the butler uniform was stuffy and uncomfortably warm, he would be spending the day under the shadow of a tree by the looks of it.

Both teens made their way to where the younger child was, Gabriel had been more than thrilled to toss the book he had been reading aside to spend some time outside with Jacob and Cole. Soon enough the three children were outside, talking and playing with each other; Cole didn't particularly like playing with the other two given that it was too similar to what he used to do in the orphanage, but he would rather eat rusted nails than being anywhere near Keegan.

A few hours passed and soon enough the Madame of the house, Madame Vivianne, called them inside, smiling brightly and Cole's heart throbbed. She was such a kind beautiful woman and it was a real shame that she was married to Mr. Davis of all people.

The three of them hurried inside, each sitting at their respective seats. Cole was glad that his was beside Gabriel's instead of where Keegan or Mr. Davis' sat.

He and Jacob ate in silence while the adults and Gabriel filled the meal with conversation; every now and then he would feel Mr. Davis' or Robert's eyes on him only to move away. Uneasiness grew inside his stomach as he ate, and once the meal was done he felt sick.

"Cole, help me with some homework." Jacob said as he stood from the table after giving his thanks. Cole nodded and briskly did the same. As they went to the library Jacob whispered to him, "You look like you are about to throw up, calm the fuck down!"

"I'm sorry, today just feels really weird… I don't know!" Cole whispered back and took deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. He unsuccessfully tried to not think about how the last time he had felt like this had been the day he had been bought.

Soon they arrived at the library and Cole did his best helping Jacob; truth was Cole had never had gone to school but he still could understand the material and apply it to help the other, Jacob sometimes got mad about this but today he stayed quiet as Cole helped him.

Cole's eyes widened when he saw it was getting dark outside, he nudged Jacob and pointed this out.

"Oh thank fuck, I didn't think I'd be able to go through another stupid math question. Let's get dinner and hope Robert already went away, yeah?" Jacob said with a small push to Cole and a smile.

Cole smiled back and nodded.

Together, they made their way to the living room and sure enough dinner was laid out and people were taking their seats. Among those people Robert smiled at Cole and the teen felt himself freeze. Robert's smile was sharp and predatory, one he had never seen on the man's face before.

Jacob pulled him by his arm until he was seated, he slowly looked at Mr. Davis, hoping the other would reprimand him for freezing and maybe send him to his room to be punished later but Mr. Davis barely glanced at him.

Robert didn't stop looking at him once throughout the meal, even when Jacob tried to talk to the man he just waved the teen away, giving a uninterested reply. Cole's hands shook as he tried to eat, doing his best to not draw attention to himself but he still could feel Keegan's hot gaze on him. After an hour or so the man stood up, "This was a lovely evening. Troy, Vivianne, thank you for letting me stay for dinner, I'll be taking my leave now. Cole," Robert looked at him and he almost dropped his silverware. Cole had to walk him out of the property, he knew and yet he couldn't bring himself to move.

"Dad, Cole is helping me with something! Can't one of the other maids or butlers walk Mr. Keegan out today?" Jacob said, standing up as well and looking at Mr. Davis with pleading eyes but the man didn't budge.

"Cole, stop acting like a child and walk Robert out. Now boy or you'll regret it." Mr. Davis growled, looking at him for the first time. Cole was sure he looked pale, the man looked furious; in all of the years he had known him the man had never looked so angry.

Almost out of reflex he stood up and nodded; Cole wasn't sure he could even stop himself as he walked to the door, Robert in tow. He heard Jacob complaining to Mr. Davis but he was preoccupied with the hand currently groping his ass.

He led the man out of the house, Cole's heart hammered inside his chest. Why was he so scared? It was stupid, he'd done this a million times before. He tried in vain to calm himself.

As they walked through the garden a hand shot up and pushed him to the ground, he yelped in pain as he landed on his side. Immediately, adrenaline pumped through his veins and he scrambled away from Robert; the man chuckled as he kneeled over him. Cole kicked out a leg and the man just grabbed his ankle and pulled the teen towards him.

"Mr. Keegan, please! I won't tell Mr. Davis, let me go!" Cole pleaded as he was dragged, panic clear in his voice as his hand dug into the dirt to no avail. The man was settled between his legs, an amused smile spreading across his face.

"You really are a cutie, Cole. The old man was wasting you away… let me get a taste, won't you?" And then Robert was looming above him, leaning in towards his face. Cole, to his credit, fought tooth and nail; scratching and trying to kick as the man approached. At one point he even managed to punch him but he was weak and the man simply grabbed his wrists with one hand. It was then when the waterworks began.

Fat tears rolled down his face as he sobbed; he was scared, no one had ever touched him like this except for Mr. Davis and now this creepy old man was pushing his tongue inside his mouth, moving it around and making him almost choke on spit.

His fighting came back when Robert's free hand began to unzip the teen's pants.

"LET ME GO YOU FUCKING PERVERT!" Cole's voice cracked and he didn't care, dirt flew through the air as his legs kicked. He struggled and struggled and the man said nothing, just looked at him with such a gentle look that Cole wanted to vomit. In his struggle he didn't notice that the man had managed to unzip his pants and in one smooth motion they were pulled down alongside his underwear.

His screaming stopped when his rear touched the damp dirt; Cole laid frozen because there was no way? No way Robert would do this, no way Mr. Davis would allow this to happen, but he was. A hand wrapped around his length and he sobbed.

The man tutted at him gently, "Now now, don't cry little puppy. You'll like this, I'll make sure of it...if you behave that is. Stop crying or I'll just rape you instead of making love to you." Robert's voice was as sweet as it always had been and cold fear squeezed Cole's heart.

He tried because Cole was a survivor, he adapted and he was smart but try as he might he couldn't stop the wailing. Robert shook his head and from his pocket he retrieved a small bottle; he waved it in front of Cole's sobbing face before throwing behind him.

"Bad puppy; don't worry, you'll learn soon enough that resisting does nothing good." Robert leaned in and kissed him again, Cole didn't struggle but he had the sinking feeling that it didn't matter anymore.

Keegan let go of his hands and turned him onto his belly; he tried to scramble away but Robert' hold of his hips was an iron grip. Cole, in his panic, babbled, "Robert— I'm sorry, I have been rude to you but  _ please  _ don't— ow! I'm sorry!" Tears and snot ran down his face and he pressed his face against the dirt, hoping that the earth would take pity on him and swallow him whole. 

Meanwhile Robert whispered filth as he pulled his face up, shoving three of his fingers inside Cole's mouth, "Wet them, puppy. I don't want to hurt myself— there you go, lick them good. This is all the preparation you are getting," Robert's dick was straining against his pants and he couldn't help but add, "Yeah, I bet you like this, Pup. Deep down you wanted to be filled with my big fat cock, God, you are hot."

The teen shook his head but that didn't matter, what mattered was the hot entrance pressed against his clothed dick. Groaning, he pressed his weight on the boy under him, trapping Cole between his body and the ground as he pulled down his own pants.

Cole's sobs started again once the digits inside his mouth withdrew. His body shook as he felt a hot rod of flesh press against his asshole then it thrusted all the way in. He howled in pain and trashed against the man holding him down, spewing profanities and pleads; the boy felt something tear and he gagged as dirt and grass made their way inside his mouth.

Robert fucked him, grabbing his hips and surely bruising. No kindness was put into the action and Cole couldn't help but feel like an animal as he sobbed for the man to stop.

Mr. Davis' classes had come with their fair share of training when it came to pain; he could manage being slapped and pinched but this was too much. When he felt something slick run down his legs he knew it was blood; it dried quickly and made the dragging inside even more agonizing. His hands scrambled for purchase and screams and cries were punched out of him; the tingling sensation he had felt so long ago came back and this time he felt darkness creep into his vision.

"S— Someone, help me…  _ please _ !" Cole cried as darkness engulfed him and he heard the bastard laugh behind him, the man was saying something but by the time he was finished Cole was out cold.

He woke up with a start, his face was pressed against the damp dirt; his body hurt but his ass throbbed with a new kind of pain. A sea of emotions swirled through his head; Anger, grief, fear and humiliation burned through him as he hauled himself up. Cole regretted it as soon as he did it, yelping and dropping down again he let himself cry. 

Years and years of desolation finally catching up to him; even his mantra of "It could be worse" did nothing for him as he rolled to his side and cried without shame. It took a few more minutes for him to try standing up again; he had no idea how long it had been since Keegan was nowhere in sight but it was still dark. A curl of deep rage settled deep in his gut; his pants were gathered around his ankles and blood ran down his thighs along with what he assumed was cum, disgust was added to the sea of emotions.

With shaking hands he took off his pants and half-walked half-dragged himself towards the house, the lights were still on so maybe it hadn't been too long. He put his hand on the handle and stared at his broken and dirtied nails, blood seeping through his palm from where the skin had caught on a stone; face contorted into a scowl he pushed the door open, letting it slam on the wall behind it.

Immediately he heard a commotion; Vivianne's voice alarmed along with Jacob's and Gabriel's. Bitterly he wondered where Davis was but that didn't matter, he was pissed off and felt like he was going crazy.

As fast as he could he walked to where he had heard the voices; they were in the common area, seemingly ready to settle in for a movie. He caught Jacob's horrified eyes first and enraged Cole reached blindly for one the thousands vases in the stupid house and slammed it into the ground. That soon caught the attention of the rest of the house.

"You are all so fucking disgusting; do any of you even know!? Huh? Do you know what Daddy's job is? Are you all so stupid as to really think he "rescued" me!?" Cole screamed at them, anger loosening his tongue. The first to move was Jacob who nearly tripped trying to reach him, worry clear in his features but Cole was busy staring down at Vivianne's pale figure; she looked horrified and in a shrill voice called for her husband, that ticked him off into another rant.

"God, now I see why you are with him. Like fucking little kids too? Huh, you bitch—" he did not get to finish as someone yanked him from the back of his shirt, choking him.

"Cole, shut your mouth or you'll regret it." came Davis' voice but Cole was too pissed off to heed the warning, instead he elbowed the man on the stomach. It did jack shit but it felt good and he kept ranting.

"And YOU! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT ME! YOU FUCKING BASTARD! Do you have any idea— I thought you cared about me!" Sobs wrecked through him as he tried in vain to squeeze out of the man's grip.

Jacob's screams to his father to let Cole go fell on deaf ears as the man dragged the teen away; Jacob followed, his head was a mess.

Why wasn't his father calling for an ambulance or the police!? Cole was clearly hurt and it was obvious it had been Robert and he said as much but he father didn't listen; frustrated and on edge because of Cole's sobbing screams he kicked the man. That was a mistake.

Immediately the man turned around and backhanded him, hard enough that he almost fell down; leaning on the wall he looked at his Dad who suddenly looked so much bigger than he had ever been. Fear trickled down his spine as tears gathered in his eyes.

"Go to your room, Jacob!" The man screamed and numbly he did, his heart squeezed at the yelps that Cole was making but he didn't stop. Later he would be angry at himself and find a way to help Cole but now he felt as if his world had been turned upside down, he climbed into his bed and cried like when he was seven and had done something wrong; hoping that everything had just been an awful nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New character has been introduced!


	7. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cole experiences pain and joy from the hands that protect him, only to get fed to the wolves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! New tag, check it out before reading this chapter!

Cole struggled as he was hauled, ignoring the pain all over his beaten body, scratching and kicking out. He cursed the older man who held him for not giving him food or opportunity to have even the slightest of muscles. He wanted to make Mr. Davis and Robert pay for what they've done to him.

Cole had been eight for God's sake! He had given  _ everything _ to stay safe, to stay as human as the people who only saw him as cattle would allow him. He betrayed and soiled his young body for them but that hadn't been enough, would it ever be enough? Would they ever stop? Frustration welled up and he began screaming rage again even after being thrown to the ground, a heavy shoe pressing down on his chest.

He wheezed when Davis pressed harder onto his chest, "Fuck you, Davis." Cole spat out despite the fear that threatened to faint him; with bloodied and mud caked nails he gripped the man's ankle.

Cole didn't think the man could be more livid. He was proven wrong as the pressure of his chest let up only to receive a kick to the face, "What did you just call me, Cole? Do you forget who I am, filth? I OWN YOU AND YOU'LL TREAT ME WITH RESPECT!" Davis' voice boomed through his head as his vision went hazy; he dimly registered that pain blooming in his face but that was the least of his worries at the moment. Rage was a wonderful painkiller, it seemed.

"I'm not your fucking slave! I'm a kid and as soon as I can I'm leaving your old ass!" Euphoria laced with anger and fear, a bloody smile splitting his face. Cole was sure the other would kill him now but he was fed up so if he was going to die he'd do it telling his mind to Davis, hopefully the man would carry his message to Keegan.

The silence trampled all of the happiness he had felt and made the smile drop almost as suddenly as it had appeared. Cole risked a glance to the man still towering above him and his body shook with the shudder that ran through him. Davis was calm, looking down at him with cold and calculating eyes; this was new and new had always meant immeasurable pain for Cole so he did the only two things that came to his mind.

Scrambling back and mumbling apologies that he knew were too late to be of any use he tried to get away. Cole didn't dare to turn around to get a better purchase for his getaway, afraid what the man would do with his back turned. He didn't get very far before the man reached down and grabbed him by his hair; the teen whimpered and shook.

"Perhaps I  _ have  _ been too soft on you, boy. Robert warned me that our arrangement would shake you but— look at the mess you've me put in, Cole." His fist tightened and brown eyes widened, Davis thought it was Cole's fault? The teen wanted to get angry again but the sharp look the man was giving him had doused all emotions inside him except for pain and fear.

"Robert's method is harsh but…" Davis' eyes looked him up and down before continuing, "you are stubborn, I'll have to tell him not to break you completely." The man hauled him up and kissed him; Cole's hand wrung together and he wanted to cry but kissing was familiar so he tentatively kissed back. The kiss was so soft his heart ached.

Mr. Davis wasn't angry and yet Cole had been making such a huge fuss, wasn't he supposed to be angry? Why was he the only one reacting? Perhaps he had overreacted, he tried to convince himself and panic gripped his heart again. Why was he trying to convince himself!? His body hurt all over and it had been Robert's and Mr. Davis' fault, Cole had reacted accordingly and yet he still felt like  _ he  _ was going crazy. 

With a sigh the man pulled away, he looked at the shaking teen and fondly stroked his face. His Cole was smart, he knew the pup would eventually calm himself and go back to normal; it was amusing seeing the teen's face as he fought with himself. Robert could go fuck himself, Davis’ method was far better but, he had to admit, his pup had gone out of control. Mr. Davis dreaded having to rely on Keegan again but maybe this would teach his puppy to not go yapping the wrong things to his family.

"There you go, Good boy. Did mean Robert give you a scare? Aw, puppy, you look like you are about to faint," the man cooed at him as he stroked his cheek and Cole found himself pressing against the tender affection; his head was a mess and the touch was comforting even though he felt as if he was betraying himself by doing so.

Cole  _ felt _ like he was going to faint, he didn't know whether it was because the jumble of feelings swirling in his head or because of the blood still dripping down his legs and face. Mr. Davis leaned in close again and Cole thought they would kiss again, instead, the man simply murmured against his lips, "As punishment, you'll stay with Mr. Keegan and his family for a month."

Mr. Davis circled the teen's waist as he saw —with no small amount of satisfaction— how Cole's horrified face went slack as he fainted. Chuckling to himself, he lifted the thin body of his servant and carried him bridal style to the bed in the room. Mr. Davis looked around after placing the bleeding boy down, with a satisfied smile he noted how clean Cole's room was. His puppy was a good puppy, it wasn't Cole's fault that Keegan had a thing for raping little boys in exchange of favors. 

With one last kiss to the sleeping boy he went to call a doctor over, it would be terrible if the kid bleed out and he didn't actually know if Robert was clean. Mr. Davis would kill him if he had gotten Cole ill.

Cole woke up sore and in pain; he was in his bed and when he looked down at himself his clothes had been changed. He no longer looked like he had been wrestled onto the dirt and neither was he covered in blood. He could feel patches and bandages on his face so he assumed a doctor had been called to check on him. Cole wished it hadn't been Keith, it would've sucked if he had missed the visit from the older man.

He laid there in relative peace before his brain deemed it necessary to remind him what Mr. Davis had told him before he had fallen unconscious. His hands shook as he went to catch the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Cole couldn't do it, he wouldn't survive another night with Keegan and Mr. Davis  _ had _ to know this but if he knew why would he—

His thoughts were interrupted by the man himself walking into the room, Mr. Davis carried a tray with food and he smiled warmly once his eyes locked with Cole's. Heat rose to his cheeks and he looked away as a warm knot formed in his stomach, the memory of the kiss they had shared still fresh in his head.

"Welcome to the world of the living, puppy." The man smiled and closed the door behind him; he brought the tray to the teen and watched him as he ate. 

Once the boy had eaten most of his food he stroked Cole's cheek and he leaned into it, embarrassment coloring his face once again, "The doctor said there was tearing so you won't be moving much, I need you to heal after all. The bruising should go away in a few weeks but I bought makeup so you can cover it up." Cole nodded, he would learn to use makeup perfectly; he wanted Mr. Davis approval, maybe if he was perfect like the man wanted him to he wouldn't send him away with Robert. He didn't chide himself when he pressed a kiss to the palm of Mr. Davis' hand nor when he kissed the wrist as well, Cole knew how bad the man could be and he was far better than Robert. It should have stopped being about his pride a long time ago but now he knew, it was about survival and Mr. Davis meant safety. He would try to keep it simple: no confusing emotions like love or hate, just survival and death.

His chin was gently held and the older man kissed him, softly like he had the night before and tears gathered in his eyes as he melted against the man.

The night before, as he had fought to keep Robert from making him a bitch, he had realized he hadn't felt like a person in a long time and —while a part of him protested— he felt human when Mr. Davis didn't push inside his mouth like a starved man but instead kissed him softly like a lover. Cole had enough things he had to endure so he let himself enjoy the kisses that  _ felt _ like an option, it was fine; it'd be fine.

Cole was to stay in bed for a week as he healed, Mr. Davis insisted on it, saying he wouldn't want the stitches to open again and have him bleed out while cleaning the house; not once did he think about Mr. Davis's family. For an entire week it was Mr. Davis and him and Cole did his best to squash the wonderful feeling of being the man's sole focus.

Once the week was over things went back to normal and Cole did his best to act as if he hadn't had a breakdown in front of the rest of the family. The Madame was tense and slightly more aggressive towards him but that was fine, Gabriel acted the same but the wrong feeling he had felt when he had met the kid had come back and stayed every time the kid was near him. Jacob appeared to be avoiding him and he told himself he didn't care.

Cole did perfectly. He attended to every single thing that the family needed with a smile and he didn't let himself slip up; practiced in front of the mirror every morning so his eyes wouldn't betray what he actually felt. Mr. Davis was happy with him, happy enough to sometimes change his classes to make out sessions in which Cole participated eagerly; it was simply better than being forced into sexual acts. He still woke up screaming, feeling dirt on his face and on his hands. He did not tell Mr. Davis, refusing to even bring up Robert's name in hope the man would forget about Cole's punishment.

Two weeks went by and Cole got called into Mr. Davis' office, he arrived and knocked; stepping in when he heard confirmation from the man inside. His smile faltered when he saw the gloom expression on the man's face, in a small voice he asked, "Sir?"

"Puppy, come here," The man gestured besides him and Cole went, kneeling besides the man and looking up at him. The older man looked at him and stroked his cheek affectionately, "Mr. Keegan called, said he is ready to receive you in his house. I know it's scary, dear, but remember you brought this on yourself… he'll be picking you up in two days so you can go and prepare your things."

Cole wanted to cry, to scream at him for giving him a false sense of security again and to plead for mercy, he did none of these things. Instead, he nodded and gave a kiss to the hand caressing him. He stayed with Mr. Davis until the man dismissed him; Cole felt cold. Of course he would get lied to again, it never mattered how he acted, he would never win.

That night, he did not go to his room; he walked into one of the bathrooms in the house and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Had his eyes always looked so… empty? His cheeks were slightly sunk in and he stared impassively at the corpse looking back at him. Cole knew he was dead, Robert would pick him up like the grim reaper came to pick up their victims and that would be it; he briefly wondered what lie Robert would feed Mr. Davis when he called saying that Cole had passed away, he hoped it was a bad lie.

His hand reached for one of the cabinets and he opened it; inside there were a few bottle pills, the blades that Mr. Davis used on him to get rid of unwanted hair and an arrangement of makeup supplies. His eyes lingered as he recalled reading about people ending their lives with blades or through pill-swallowing.

Cole wondered if the next day he would gather the strength to go through with it or if he would've found a way to convince Mr. Davis to not make him go but for now he cleaned the makeup off of his face and went to bed with an empty feeling in his chest.

The next day, he woke up.

He had half-expected to not wake up, he had hoped for life to give him mercy but he realized with a bitter taste in his mouth that his life was Mr. Davis and whichever friend he allowed to come in the house had never given him mercy. Cole felt ashamed for playing into Mr. Davis' games but did not chastise himself; he was going to die and he would not spend his last hours hating himself. 

He had thought about what to do to convince Mr. Davis while on his bed the night before but came up empty. If he offered his body the man would either be offended or accept to then send him away, anything else he had to offer had already been taken by the man and when he realized this he had cried. 

Cole put on his butler outfit, button by button accepting his fate. He looked down at the bracelets that Mr. Davis had given to him a year ago; they were worn down and if he squinted there was a small splotch of blood that still existed from that terrible night, the night that felt years ago and simultaneously felt yesterday. 

He put on his shoes carefully; he had meant to ask Mr. Davis for new ones but that seemed silly now, he wouldn't need to wear shoes where he was going.

Cole stood at the door of his room and looked back at it, taking in how impersonal it felt and so different from Jacob's —the only other teenager he knew— full of posters, games and dirty clothes thrown about. In a way, he supposed, he envied the other teen; he wished he had been allowed to be a kid, he wished his parents hadn't died.

Then he went to work. The Madame did not need his help and dismissed him, Gabriel was not home and so he went to find Jacob. He knocked twice and, surprisingly, Jacob answered the door; the other seemed as surprised to see him. 

They stood in silence and by the way Jacob avoided his gaze, it was awkward. He decided to speak first, "Jacob… do you need me to do anything for you?" Cole watched detachedly how expressive Jacob's face was. He had caught him off guard.

"Wha… what? I— " Jacob tugged at his hair as he looked at him before sighing— "Look, I know I have been avoiding you, I just don't know what to say! Okay? What do you say when your sorta-friend get fucking r-raped in your house and then your dad acts like it's normal." He buried his face in his hands, sighing.

"And all the stuff you said! It… it, like, explains a lot but— it's my dad, you know!? And I know you must be feeling worse and, look, I am not the type of people to doubt victims, okay? I am not, it's just a shock! And it's—" Jacob cut himself off when he glanced at Cole.

"I— I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry…" He said awkwardly and Cole stared at him. He didn't know why he was crying; he had done that plenty last night and yet here he was.

He meant to say "It's nothing, don't worry about it" or "You did nothing wrong, it's fine!" And maybe smile so the other wouldn't worry because Jacob cared and Cole did not want him to care, to save him pain but no, what came out instead was a broken sob and then he couldn't stop himself.

"I'm getting sent to work for Robert, I'm sorry," Cole sobbed and then pressed his hands to his face, trying to stop the tears. It was stupid; he had accepted what was going to happen and he had made as much peace as he could with the fact that he would probably die. He was just making things more difficult. Cole realized that not hating yourself was hard when you were such a piece of shit.

"What!? No! He can't— you can't! Cole, did my father order you?" Jacob's hands hovered around Cole's shoulders awkwardly; the thought of Cole alone with Keegan sent sparks of rage down his body and he yearned to beat up the man.

Jacob's hands landed softly on Cole's shoulders and he was pulled into the room and into Jacob's chest. Belatedly he realized that he was being hugged, another wail broke through him as he held onto Jacob. He shook as he tried to bury himself into the comforting embrace; when had been the last time anyone cared to embrace him for his sake and not theirs? 

Jacob's fingers ran through Cole's hair and the teen wished he knew what to do; he did not understand what his father was thinking but— well, he did and that was the problem. How do you come about your father being a pedophile who let's their butler get raped? His stomach turned at how many awful words were there but it was not Jacob who needed comfort now. 

"It's going to be okay, Cole. I'll— I'll tell my father not to send you away," He frowned when the trembling boy in his arms shook his head. "Why not? He ought to listen to me, if— if he doesn't I'll tell me mom."

"He— he can't know I told you, I'm sorry… this was supposed to be my punishment and I'm just making it worse," Came Cole's muffled reply and his heart squeezed at the stutter. 

"Punishment!? For being abused? That's fucked up, Cole! You do not deserve this… 'kay, I'll just make up something! I have a party or something and I want to take you, I'll just tell mom and we can leave without telling my father! How long are you supposed to be working for dickface?"

Cole had never felt so warm and safe in his life; he tried desperately to engrave this moment into his head so he wouldn't mistake whatever Mr. Davis offered as safety ever again. Jacob was willing to get in trouble to keep him safe and he wanted to never let go and the plan sounded so nice too: get away and leave, spend time with Jacob and be safe, but he knew better, the thought was nice though, "A month, he's supposed to come pick me up tomorrow… it's fine, Jacob, I— Thank you for caring. That's, um, more than anyone had ever done for me…"

Jacob tightened his hold of Cole and he cursed at how unfair all this was. Hatred and disgust for his father blossomed within him and he hoped the man would just leave Cole alone. Fuck, for all he knew his father had a thing for him and Gabriel and that was terrifying! He wished he could just grab Gabriel, Cole and skip town with them in tow but he knew he couldn't. The police wouldn't do shit in such a short notice and he doubted they would believe him anyway, he knew what he looked like: a typical white teen who didn't get enough attention at home. It was true but that wasn't the point.

"I'll— I'll think of something, okay? Just—" Cole was gently pushed away from Jacob's chest and he made Cole look him in the eye as he spoke— "get yourself fixed up and act like nothing happened. Do that thing you are really good at and don't let my Father see you like this, okay? Be careful, please." Jacob didn't add how, if something happened to Cole, he would blame himself; he didn't think the other needed to hear that. He gave a short kiss to Cole's forehead before herding the teen to a bathroom to clean up. The situation was fucked and he doubted his friends knew what to do either but he did consider asking them for help.

Cole, for his part, held Jacob's care and worry close to his heart as he fixed himself and went to work. A tiny speckle of hope made its way to him because maybe Jacob was right and things would be fine, then he wouldn't need to use his last resort and then Jacob wouldn't hate him. 

Things were going to be okay, they had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I listened to "a burning hill" by mitski as I wrote and it shows, anyways [does my little dancey dance]


End file.
